Missouri may create state-run pharmacy — but only to keep killing prisoners

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster thinks he’s hit upon a novel way around some of the problems plaguing the death penalty these days. He wants the state to create its own death-penalty pharmacy.

That’s right. The AG for a state that has refused to participate in the Affordable Care Act — it has refused a state-run insurance exchange and expansion of Medicaid on the grounds that it expands government’s reach too far — now wants the medical establishment to create a state pharmacy, but only to make the drugs needed to kill prisoners.

This would address both the lack of drugs available and the call for more transparency in the death penalty system. What it also does is underscore in bod colors the skewed values of our political system. We remain more committed to revenge than we are to taking care of those in need.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet