Centene-bought pharmacy won't give Missouri execution drugs

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 7:14 pm, Tuesday, February 20, 2018

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri health care company on Tuesday said a pharmacy it recently bought won't provide execution drugs to the state, a pledge that came after media reports that the suburban St. Louis business had been the state's secret source of the drugs for years.

Buzzfeed News reported that Foundation Care, based in Earth City, Missouri, supplied the state Department of Corrections with pentobarbital for 17 executions since 2014 for $135,000. The media outlet cited two sources with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of strict state laws prohibiting disclosure or publishing of the identity of the supplier.

Centene Corp. purchased Foundation Care in October 2017. Since then, Centene spokeswoman Marcela Manjarrez Hawn said Foundation Care "has never supplied, and will never supply any pharmaceutical product to any state for the purpose of effectuating executions."

The Department of Corrections declined to comment on the report from Buzzfeed News and on Centene's promise never to provide execution drugs.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Centene-bought-pharmacy-won-t-give-Missouri-12628599.php

[OnlinePoker]

1. Why don't they just use the drugs used for assisted suicide?

They seem to be readily available here in Canada.