I-1000 returns to Capitol

Supporters and opponents of an initiative that will allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill people returned to the Capitol today, as the last of approximately 320,000 signatures were turned in to the state.

Initiative 1000 appeared headed to the voters in November, having easily cleared the 225,000-signature requirement to make the ballot. State officials will check a sample of the signatures to ensure they are valid.

Former Gov. Booth Gardner, the measure’s prime sponsor, predicted victory.

"I think we’re going to go all the way. I’ll bet on it," he said.

Opponents prayed the Rosary while Gardner addressed a crowd of supporters, and decried the proposed law as "assisted suicide."

Dr. Susan Rutherford said a similar law in Oregon fails to track all the incidents in which doctors allow patients to kill themselves. And some groups already work to allow the practice, despite the ban in Washington, she added.

"How many people really died from medical suicide? No one knows," she said.