Killing states' rights

I'm not crazy about Oregon's assisted-suicide law. For one thing, it's dangerous to do anything to make suicide an easy first option instead of a desperate last one; that's the wrong thing to add to the culture, considering how many teens consider suicide and don't need that much encouragement. For another, inviting physicians to participate takes that profession where we shouldn't want it to go. People have always committed suicide when they felt they had no other choice, and many of them have been helped by friends and loved ones and, yes, even the family physician, but on an informal basis. Let's keep the law out of it.

But that's Oregon's call (one I hope and trust we will never make in Indiana). It's called federalism, and the states are supposed to be our laboratories of democracy. Washington's attempt to override Oregon voters' wishes with federal anti-drug laws is cynical and opportunistic, akin to outlawing medical marijuana on the grounds that it somehow affects interstate commerce.