[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3788 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3788

  To clarify Federal law to prohibit the dispensing, distribution, or 
administration of a controlled substance for the purpose of causing, or 
assisting in causing, the suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of any 
                              individual.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 3, 2006

 Mr. Brownback introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To clarify Federal law to prohibit the dispensing, distribution, or 
administration of a controlled substance for the purpose of causing, or 
assisting in causing, the suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of any 
                              individual.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Assisted Suicide Prevention Act of 
2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the use of certain narcotics and other drugs or 
        substances with a potential for abuse is strictly regulated 
        under the Controlled Substances Act;
            (2) the dispensing, distribution, or administration of 
        certain controlled substances only by properly registered 
        practitioners and only for legitimate medical purposes are 
        permitted under the Controlled Substances Act;
            (3) the dispensing, distribution, or administration of 
        controlled substances to assist suicide or euthanasia are not 
        legitimate medical purposes and are not permissible under the 
        Controlled Substances Act;
            (4) the dispensing, distribution, or administration of 
        controlled substances for the purpose of relieving pain and 
        discomfort are legitimate medical purposes and are permissible 
        under the Controlled Substances Act;
            (5) inadequate treatment of pain, especially for chronic 
        diseases, irreversible diseases such as cancer, and end-of-life 
        care, is a serious public health problem affecting hundreds of 
        thousands of patients every year and physicians should not 
        hesitate to dispense, distribute, or administer controlled 
        substances when medically indicated for those conditions; and
            (6) for the reasons set forth in section 101 of the 
        Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801), the dispensing, 
        distribution, or administration of controlled substances for 
        any purpose, including that of assisting suicide or euthanasia, 
        affects interstate commerce.

SEC. 3. USE OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES TO ASSIST SUICIDE.

    Section 303 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823) is 
amended by adding at the end with the following:
    ``(i)(1) It shall be unlawful for any practitioner to intentionally 
dispense, distribute, or administer a controlled substance for the 
purpose of assisting suicide or causing the death of a person.
    ``(2) Alleviating pain or discomfort in the usual course of 
professional practice is a legitimate medical purpose for the 
dispensing, distributing, or administering of a controlled substance 
that is consistent with public health and safety, even if the use of 
such substance may increase the risk of death.
    ``(3) Any practitioner who violates paragraph (1), upon a finding 
that a controlled substance was dispensed, distributed, or administered 
for the stated or undisputed purpose of assisting suicide or causing 
the death of a person--
            ``(A) shall have any registration under this Act revoked; 
        and
            ``(B) shall not be registered under this Act.
    ``(4) In any proceeding under this subsection, the Attorney General 
shall have the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, 
that the intent of the practitioner was to dispense, distribute, or 
administer a controlled substance for the purpose of assisting suicide 
or causing the death of a person. In meeting such burden, it shall not 
be sufficient to prove that the practitioner knew that the use of 
controlled substance may increase the risk of death.
    ``(5) This subsection does not apply to dispensing or administering 
a controlled substance for the purpose of carrying out a criminal 
sentence of death that is authorized under Federal or State law.
    ``(6)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), nothing in this 
subsection may be construed to--
            ``(i) alter the roles of the Federal Government or State 
        governments in regulating the practice of medicine, including 
        that, regardless of whether the Attorney General determines 
        under this subsection that a practitioner has violated 
        paragraph (1), it remains solely within the discretion of State 
        authorities to determine whether action should be taken with 
        respect to the State professional license of the practitioner 
        or State prescribing privileges;
            ``(ii) modify the Federal requirements that a controlled 
        substance be dispensed only for a legitimate medical purpose; 
        or
            ``(iii) provide the Attorney General with the authority to 
        issue national standards for pain management and palliative 
        care clinical practice, research, or quality.
    ``(B) The Attorney General may take such actions as may be 
necessary to enforce this subsection.''.
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