Defense attorneys said the use of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride could cause ‘excruciating suffering’

Defense attorneys said the use of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride could cause ‘excruciating suffering’

Utah officials said on Saturday that they are scrapping plans to use an untested lethal drug combination in next month’s planned execution of a man in a 1998 murder case. They will instead seek out a drug that’s been used previously in executions in numerous states.

Defense attorneys for Taberon Dave Honie, 49, had sued in state court to stop the use of the drug combination, saying it could cause the defendant “excruciating suffering”.

The execution scheduled for 8 August would be Utah’s first since the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, by firing squad.

  • skulblaka
    21•2 months ago

    Pedantic, but:

    The LD50 for THC is so hilariously high that you will physically lose the ability to move your body and consume more THC long, long before you reach a point of potential toxicity. From a technical standpoint there is no recorded event of a THC “overdose” ever occurring, like literally ever in human history, and boy have we been trying over the years. It’s easier to die from drinking too much water than consuming too much THC.

    Now clearly what you’re referring to is just having had too much, “greening out” as the kids say, where you can gain a lot of anxiety and lose a lot of bodily control. And yes, that sucks, a lot. Panic attack city right there. But that’s not an overdose in the proper, dangerous sense of the term.

    I only even bring this up because with cannabis being such a hot button political issue lately and being on the brink of federal legalization, accurate information about it is more important now than ever. And more often than not I usually see comments like this just replied to with “lol u can’t overdose on weed idiot” with no further context and that’s not helpful to anyone.

    You can definitely take too much and have a bad time, but if you manage to find a way to legitimately overdose on THC, Willie Nelson would like to know your location.

    • qprimedEnglish
      7•2 months ago

      but if you manage to find a way to legitimately overdose on THC, Willie Nelson would like to know your location.

      gather round, everyone! let me introduce you to the winner of today’s internet.

    • @[email protected]
      7•2 months ago

      You can definitely take too much and have a bad time

      You’ve just alluded to a toxic reaction due to overdose. The term overdose does not exclusively refer to the median fatal dose, nor does it hinge on the risk of lethality.

      • skulblaka
        3•2 months ago

        Okay, point taken, but - Oxford’s definition of overdose reads “an excessive and dangerous dose of a drug”, emphasis mine, though that may differ from a clinical definition. My point was that it’s basically impossible to consume enough THC to require medical attention about it, even if you’re trying.

        Though I’m realizing now that this conversation is taking place in the context of executing a man with it, so the point may be moot anyway.

        • @[email protected]
          4•2 months ago

          It’s in the context of someone moving the conversation from “a cannibus overdose is impractical as a means of execution” to “there is no such thing as a cannibus overdose”.