RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Documents show Virginia prison officials have paid a compounding pharmacy $66,000 to obtain lethal injection drugs needed for two executions.
The cost of carrying out death sentences in the state is rising dramatically under a law that allows prison officials to purchase lethal injections drugs from a compounding pharmacy the state refuses to name.
The state is spending roughly 63 times last year's going price for Virginia's three-drug lethal injection package.
The Associated Press obtained copies of receipts of the compounding pharmacy purchases under the Freedom of Information Act.
Virginia is one of several states that have turned to compounding pharmacies as conventional drug manufacturers block sales of their drugs for executions, fearing that death penalty opponents will target them as violators of medical ethics.