Letter: Executions by heroin overdose?

This is an open letter to those in our justice system who are given the order to execute criminals judged to be guilty of a crime so heinous that society must require the death penalty as punishment.

It has been decided that hanging, firing squad, and electric chair are all too inhumane ways of killing this criminal. So lethal injections were chosen as a more humane way to take this criminal's life. Unfortunately, many countries and pharmaceutical companies no longer want to sell us the drugs needed for a fast and supposedly "humane" injection of drugs that will result in a fast and painless death.

A simple overdose of heroin would accomplish this. I'm sure somebody in the system will know a dealer who can provide what they need at a fairly reasonable price. The criminal may be "enjoying" a transition from life to eternity more than his victim's relatives and friends would like to see, but the "humane" death of your justice system taking the life of this criminal will assuage the deep feeling that many have that taking another's life is not a proper function of our government. This way is neither cruel nor unusual.

Fran Tapscott

Salt Lake City