Most of the 35 states with capital punishment have run out of a key lethal-injection drug or will soon, according to an Associated Press review. In many places, switching to another drug could prove a drawn-out process, fraught with legal challenges from death row that could put executions on hold.
The drug, an anesthetic called sodium thiopental, has become so scarce over the past year that a few states have had to postpone executions. Those delays could become widespread across the country in the coming months because of a decision last week by the sole U.S. manufacturer to stop producing it.
States have begun casting about for new suppliers or substitute drugs. “We’re wearing out our options,” said Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps.
Switching to another drug will take more than the stroke of a pen: Several states have lengthy regulatory and review processes. Moreover, any change in the drug used — or the supplier — could lead to lawsuits from inmates demanding proof that the substance will not cause suffering in violation of the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
“Everything will be challenged in the courts,” said Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment. “And some courts will demand proof and will delay executions until the effect is clear.”
Most states employ sodium thiopental to put inmates to sleep before administering pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Usually 2 to 5 grams of sodium thiopental are used per execution.
The AP review found some states are well-stocked:
• Nebraska’s 500 grams, from an Indian company, don’t expire until 2012.
• California, which has the nation’s largest death row with 718 inmates and had to delay an execution in September in part because of the shortage of sodium thiopental, obtained from a British company 521 grams that won’t expire until 2014.
• Texas’ supply of 118 grams expires in March. The nation’s busiest execution state has two executions set for February, one in May and one in July.
• Mississippi has 12 grams that expire in March.
• Missouri’s 40-gram supply also expires in March.
Seventeen states that use the drug, including Colorado, have no supply at all. Colorado has no execution scheduled.
States don’t have to look far for another option. Pentobarbital, a surgical sedative that is sometimes employed in assisted suicides and is commonly used to put down dogs and cats, was adopted by Oklahoma last year as part of its three-drug combination and has been used for three executions.
