COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Records show Ohio obtained an overseas import license in its search for execution drugs, a move that runs counter to warnings from the Food and Drug Administration that importing such drugs is illegal.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press through a records request show the state prisons agency cited "law enforcement purpose" in its application to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for the import license last year.
The state could try to have the drug compounded. Compounded drugs aren't subject to the same federal scrutiny.
No executions are scheduled in Ohio this year as the state tries to find supplies of drugs to put inmates to death. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction ditched its previous two-drug combo following a troubling 2014 execution in which the inmate gasped and snorted.