Dewine rules out fentanyl for executions
A state legislator’s proposal aside, Gov. Mike Dewine said Friday that the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl is “not an option” as state officials search for an alternative means of carrying out executions.
State Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-wooster, began seeking co-sponsors Monday for a bill to appropriate illegal fentanyl seized by law enforcement officers in drug busts for use in lethal injections of the condemned.
“Fentanyl is not an option,” the governor said. “We do not believe it would pass constitutional muster. We do not believe it would be upheld by a court, so there’s really no reason to come forward with that proposal.”
Nebraska conducted the first execution in the U.S. involving fentanyl last year; officials there said the painkiller was acquired from a licensed pharmacy.
Illicit fentanyl has been responsible for thousands of drug-overdose deaths in Ohio amid a nationwide opioid-addiction crisis.
Wiggam could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Dewine said he has met with the fellow Republicans who head the legislature’s two chambers — Senate President Larry Obhof of Medina and House Speaker Larry Householder of Glenford — about Ohio’s stalemate in conducting executions.
“There was a real fear, and I think it is a legitimate fear,” that pharmaceutical companies would refuse to sell drugs to the state — for Medicaid patients, state prisoners and others — if their products were also used in the state’s cocktail of lethal-injection drugs, Dewine said.
The governor said he is uncertain whether legislation will emerge this fall when legislators return to adopt another execution method, such as lethal gas.
Dewine has twice delayed the execution of convicted Columbus killer Warren Henness after a federal judge expressed concern that Ohio’s current lethalinjunction protocol amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Ohio’s next two executions are scheduled for Nov. 13 and Dec. 11.
The governor also said Friday that he plans next week to announce further steps to address gun violence and “make our communities safer in Ohio.” He declined to detail them.