Ohio adds second drug option for executions to address shortage

Prison officials' announcement came just days after its last supplies of pentobarbital, the primary execution drug, expiredOhio prison officials said Friday they are keeping their primary lethal injection drug in place despite the state's supply expiring, but they've added a second drug option for executioners to address the shortage.Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said the powerful sedative pentobarbital will remain Ohio's primary method of administering the death penalty. A policy posted to the prisons department's website listed a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone as an alternative if sufficient pentobarbital isn't available or if the existing supply "is deemed unusable" by the medical team.The agency's announcement came just days after its last supplies of pentobarbital expired. The last dose before the expiration was used to put condemned killer Harry Mitts to death on 15 September for shooting two people, including a suburban Cleveland police officer.The alternative drug regimen was included in a revised overall capital punishment policy released by the state.A federal judge had already indicated he'll review the new execution process. If he allows the state to go ahead, the compounded form of the drug will be used in the November execution of Ronald Phillips, sentenced to die for raping and killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993.The original manufacturer of pentobarbital, Denmark-based Lundbeck Inc, said in 2011 that it was putting the...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Tags: theguardian.com United States Capital punishment News Ohio Drugs World news Source Type: news