The state of Ohio has announced rules for testing lethal injection drugs ahead of executions if it obtains specialty batches of the drugs.
The updated capital punishment policy applies to so-called compounded drugs, which are generally small doses of drugs not subject to federal oversight. The Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections said in a court filing Monday it will only use the batch of compounded drugs if the sample is properly identified and the drug's potency verified. The prisons agency also announced it is adding nurse practitioners and registered nurses to the list of execution team members who could provide advice about executions. The changes come as Ohio is trying to find new supplies of execution drugs as pharmaceutical companies put drugs used in the past off limits for capital punishment.
