RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia's attorney general says he doesn't believe a proposal to allow the state to obtain lethal injection drugs from anonymous compounding pharmacies would violate federal law.
Republican Del. Jackson Miller had asked Attorney General Mark Herring for an opinion before lawmakers reconvene Wednesday to consider Gov. Terry McAuliffe's proposal.
In his opinion released late Tuesday, Herring rejected the argument that federal law allows pharmacies to compound drugs only with a valid prescription.
Herring said it's "settled law" that lethal injection drugs don't constitute a practice of medicine, "rendering a prescription unnecessary and unavailable." He added that no court has ever invalidated a state's lethal injection protocol on those grounds.
McAuliffe's proposal replaces a measure that sought to allow the state to execute inmates in the electric chair if drugs aren't available.
State Legislature
Virginia lawmakers are set to consider McAuliffe's proposal to shield the identities of pharmacies that supply lethal injection drugs for executions.
Several states have adopted secrecy laws in an effort to make the drugs easier to obtain by protecting suppliers from critics.
McAuliffe says without the law, Virginia won't be able to obtain drugs and executions will grind to a halt. He says he'll veto the electric chair bill if lawmakers don't accept his changes.
Religious leaders blasted the proposal, saying shielding suppliers from public scrutiny could increase the risk of botched executions.
