COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio could begin executing inmates with doses of a lethal injection drug prepared by specialized pharmacies under a change in its execution process prompted by difficulties securing the powerful sedative last used by the state.
New Ohio prisons department execution rules allowing compounding pharmacies were filed in federal court Friday, just days after the state's last supplies of pentobarbital expired. Such businesses custom-make drugs but aren't subject to federal scrutiny.
The new policy also establishes an alternative intravenous drug combination — the sedative midazolam with the opiate hydromorphone — if expired pentobarbital is deemed unusable or if new supplies of the drug are unavailable.
continue to read here