Some US executions held up by shortage of drug

[Bill McBlueState]

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some executions in the U.S. have been put on hold because of a shortage of one of the drugs used in lethal injections from coast to coast.

Several of the 35 states that rely on lethal injection are either scrambling to find sodium thiopental — an anesthetic that renders the condemned inmate unconscious — or considering using another drug. But both routes are strewn with legal or ethical roadblocks.

...

The sole U.S. manufacturer, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., has blamed the shortage on unspecified problems with its raw-material suppliers and said new batches of sodium thiopental will not be available until January at the earliest.

...

But at least one death penalty expert was skeptical of Hospira's explanation, noting that the company has made it clear it objects to using its drugs for executions. Hospira also makes the two other chemicals used in lethal injections.

Full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_executions_drug_shortage

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I didn't forsee this as a way to slow down executions, but I'll take it.

[Taverner]

1. I am anti-DP, but what's wrong with a big, fat morphine overdose?

From what I hear, not the worst way to go...

[izquierdista]

2. How many millions of gallons of Corexit were used?

You could think they could spare a quart or two to spray on the condemned....