USA - Pharmacists urged not to assist US executions.

Pharmacists urged not to assist US executions. Several human rights and anti-death penalty groups have asked the American Pharmacists Association to prohibit members from participating in executions, a request that comes as states increasingly turn to pharmacists for lethal injection drugs. The groups, which include Amnesty International, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union, are targeting so-called compounded drugs. Such drugs, which are not federally regulated, are individually mixed versions of medications that prison systems are finding increasingly difficult to obtain. Pharmacists who provide compounded drugs are violating key provisions of the pharmacists' association code of ethics, including helping patients achieve "optimum benefit" from their medications, according to a letter the death penalty opponents presented to the association on Monday. "Participation in executions undermines the position of trust that pharmacists enjoy in this nation," said the letter sent ahead of the association's annual meeting beginning Friday in Orlando, Fla. The letter is part of a lobbying effort spearheaded by the nonprofit group SumOfUs, which says it represents consumers and workers and seeks to "counterbalance the growing power of large corporations."