JUDGING DRUGS

...9 9 9 The Weekly Standard welcomes letters to the editor...

...29): Now that I am 75 years old, whenever I am confronted with someone's dates (e.g., Edmund Burke, 1729-1797), I am in the habit of subtracting the date of birth from the date of death (answer: 68), and then comparing that to my own age...

...Correspondence Judging Drugs Iserve as adjunct scholar to the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs, which has sued the Food and Drug Administration to permit terminal patients with no therapeutic options left except death to use investi-gational drugs...

...But now I realize that there were only about 20 years between the world wars...

...We further note that Chief Justice Roberts stated in his confirmation hearings that he believes there is a constitutional right to privacy—and, we assert, to its manifestations of self-defense, self-preservation, and "life...

...As to preserving that life, we acknowledge that there is in this country a long established history and tradition, supported by considerable jurisprudence, that constitutionally protects an individual's right to self-defense, self-preservation, and, indeed, "life" itself in the due process clause...

...Robert F. Nagel responds: My use of the phrase "unapproved drugs" referred to my earlier statement that a right to medical self-defense would mean that the government could not prevent a sick individual from using "an experimental drug not yet deemed effective by the Food and Drug Administration...

...We take issue with key aspects of Robert IF Nagel's "Conservative Judicial Activism...

...Peter Chase Alpine, Tex...

...How ancient they seemed to me...

...We are reassured, in Nagel's observation, that Justice Antonin Scalia "seems attracted to the idea that the right to self-defense . . . has constitutional status...

...dates around the turn of the last century are familiar friends...

...I recall being a kid and seeing World War I veterans marching in an Armistice Day parade...

...This is entirely consistent with Trowbridge's formulation...

...Ronald L. Trowbridge Fredericksburg, Va...

...I used to think with Woody Allen that an exception would be made in my case, but now, at 75, with systems failing, I can see the Eternal Footman holding my coat...

...You may also fax letters: (202) 2934901 or email: editor@weeklystandard.com...

...I have outlived the SOB...

...Feb...

...I Grow Old . . . Regarding Joseph Epstein's "Kid Turns 70" (Jan...

...All letters should be addressed: Correspondence Editor The Weekly Standard 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505 Washington, DC 20036...

...Alternatively, when I think of someone like George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), who fell from a ladder and died at age 94, I think to myself, "If he can do it, then maybe so can I." I have noticed that my attention is stretching backward...

...Letters will be edited for length and clarity and must include the writer's name, address, and phone number...

...These investigational drugs have cleared the FDA's Phase 1 and have been found safe enough to be investigated on hundreds of patients in Phase 2. I argue that the decision to take such drugs should remain between an informed terminal patient with no treatment options left and his experienced oncologist—without government interference by a third party sitting in Rockville, Maryland...

...The drugs in question are neither approved nor unapproved: They are investigational drugs that have been found safe enough by the FDA for continued testing on hundreds more patients...

...If I'm older, I say to myself, "Hah...

...I find myself consulting my 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica more often than any recent version...

...The FDA should for safety and efficacy control drugs, but not life...

...Please, no snickering...

...Nagel states incorrectly that the issue rests on whether "there is a constitutional right to use unap-proved drugs...