In a move that could heighten the hurdles faced by states attempting to execute prisoners , a leading association for U.S. pharmacists has officially discouraged its members from providing drugs for use in lethal injections . The policy adopted by American Pharmacists Association delegates at their annual meeting Monday makes an ethical stand against providing such drugs , saying they run contrary to the role of pharmacists as health care providers . The association lacks legal authority to bar its more than 62,000 members from selling execution drugs , but its policies set pharmacists ' ethical standards . Execution chamber : The American Pharmacists Association has approved a proposal declaring that participation in lethal injection executions by compounding pharmacies would be a violation of core pharmacy values ( file photo ) Pharmacists now join doctors in having national associations with ethics codes that restrict credentialed members from participating in executions . 'Now there is unanimity among all health professions in the United States who represent anybody who might be asked to be involved in this process , ' said association member Bill Fassett , who voted in favor of the policy . Compounding pharmacies , which make drugs specifically for individual clients , only recently became involved in the execution-drug business . Prison departments turned to made-to-order execution drugs from compounding pharmacies because pharmaceutical manufacturers refused to sell the drugs used for decades in lethal injections after coming under pressure from death penalty opponents . But now the compounded version is also becoming difficult to come by , with most pharmacists reluctant to expose themselves to possible harassment . Texas ' prison agency scrambled this month to find a supplier to replenish its inventory before getting drugs from a compounding pharmacy it wo n't identify . Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said Monday that he had no comment when told about the ruling . Concerns : Pharmacists now join doctors in having national associations with ethics codes that restrict credentialed members from participating in executions ( file photo ) After a troubling use of a two-drug method last year , Ohio said it will use compounded versions of either pentobarbital or sodium thiopental in the future , though it does n't have supplies of either and has n't said how it will obtain them . All executions scheduled this year were pushed to 2016 to give the state more time to find the drugs . Other states are turning to alternative methods . Tennessee has approved the use of the electric chair if lethal-injection drugs are n't available , while Utah has reinstated the firing squad as a backup method if it ca n't obtain the drugs . Oklahoma is considering legislation that would make it the first state to allow the use of nitrogen gas as a potential execution method . Fassett , a professor emeritus of pharmacy law and ethics at Washington State University , said the united front by health professionals might force people to finally face the death penalty 's harsh realities . Lethal injections have created a sterile setting for executions , he said . 'It 's like we 're not really executing . We 're sort of like taking Spot to the vet . We 're just putting him to sleep , and that 's not true , ' he said .
The American Pharmacists Association has officially discouraged its members from providing drugs for use in lethal injections . The policy adopted at their annual meeting Monday says providing such drugs runs contrary to the role of pharmacists as health care providers . APA lacks legal authority to bar its more than 62,000 members from selling execution drugs , but its policies set pharmacists ' ethical standards .