c. 2000 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Vice President Al Gore’s choice of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., as his running mate raises the odds that Oregon’s law allowing physician-assisted suicide will be a target of the new administration, no matter which party wins the White House.

Like Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican nominee for president, Lieberman opposes the practice of assisted suicide, and he objects to the Clinton administration’s position that existing federal drug statutes have no bearing on the unique Oregon law.

“Obviously, Senator Lieberman has made his position known, and I presume he would say to a President Gore, `I think this is what you should do,”’ said Nathan Diament, legal affairs director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations. “But we’ll have to see.”

Gore’s position on assisted suicide isn’t entirely clear. He has expressed personal opposition to the practice. But he so far has supported a Justice Department opinion that federal law does not prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses of controlled drugs.

As vice president, Lieberman could work with Gore’s attorney general to shape the new administration’s policy on assisted suicide and the related issue of improving pain management for the dying.

But Lieberman’s impact could be felt long before Inauguration Day. Ironically, Lieberman is the lead Democratic sponsor of a Senate bill that would strip the attorney general of any discretion to interpret the Controlled Substances Act, the law that regulates strong drugs most often prescribed in Oregon for assisted suicide.

The bill, called the Pain Relief Promotion Act, would amend federal law to explicitly prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses of controlled drugs _ language that would negate an opinion written in June 1998 by Attorney General Janet Reno.

The House passed an earlier version of the pain relief bill last year, and the measure has broad support in the Senate. A vote on the bill is expected in September, and Lieberman’s support is considered critical to delivering Democratic votes needed for passage.

The Oregon law’s chief defender in the Senate, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has raised questions about the bill’s potential “chilling effect” on doctors, saying that many would fail to prescribe adequate pain relief for fear of being investigated.

Gore campaign officials familiar with the issue could not be reached for comment.

DEA END BARNETT