Ohio studying Okla. use of new execution drug

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio, which nearly ran out of its execution drug seven months ago, is studying a court decision that backed Oklahoma’s use of a drug commonly used to euthanize animals.

Oklahoma apparently became the first state to use pentobarbital when it executed a 58-year-old convicted killer Thursday.

Ohio prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith wouldn’t comment Friday on whether the state has enough of the lethal drug it currently uses for its next execution in February. She said the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction was examining the decision by a federal appeals court that backed Oklahoma’s move.

Ohio and other states have struggled to find supplies of the drug currently used in executions, sodium thiopental, because of a nationwide shortage.

Ohio uses a single strong dose of sodium thiopental to put inmates to death. Earlier this year, prison officials said they would consider asking the governor to issue execution delays for condemned inmates if the shortage affects the state’s supply.

Sodium thiopental’s sole U.S. manufacturer, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., has blamed the shortage on unspecified problems with its raw-material suppliers and said new batches will not be available until January at the earliest.