Minnesota Board Won’t Set Rules On Execution Drugs

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota regulators won't adopt a policy that would bar pharmacists from mixing lethal drugs that could be used in administering the death penalty elsewhere.

In declining to act Wednesday, state Board of Pharmacy leaders said they weren't aware of any cases where Minnesota pharmacists supplied execution drugs. They say that possibility is remote and likely would run afoul of existing law.

As execution drugs become harder to obtain, attention has turned to compounding pharmacies.

Death penalty foes wanted Minnesota to set the nation's first such policy in hopes others would follow. That would make it tougher for capital punishment states to obtain lethal supplies.

Minnesota outlawed its death penalty more than a century ago.

Advocates for the drug policy argue it is unethical for pharmacists to aid in death.