By Erica Laster Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
ATLANTA, United States – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has opted to confiscate several State’s supplies of sodium thiopental (ST) amid concerns about how the lethal injection drug had been obtained. With the supply of the widely recognized lethal injection drug growing even tighter, states have resorted to illegal means and black markets in order to continue its use in carrying out the death penalty on inmates.
Human rights groups have pointed out the ethical issues drug companies face once the drug is sold and control over its use is lost.
On January 28, 2011, the only U.S. company to manufacture sodium thiopental, Hospira Incorporated, stopped production of the lethal injection drug leaving states floundering for a substitute. Swiss drug company Novartis followed suit on February 10, forbidding distributors from allowing the drug to be exported to the United States.
On March 15, The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) confiscated the entire supply of sodium thiopental held by Georgia after concern and questions arose amid the origin of the drugs. Shortly thereafter, Kentucky and Tennessee voluntarily turned over their supply of the drug to the DEA on April 1.
On April 14, the United Kingdom placed a ban on all exports of the sodium thiopental. Business Secretary Vince Cable confirmed in a statement that “We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and are clear that British drugs should not be used to carry out lethal injections. That is why we introduced a control on sodium thiopental last year – the first of its kind in the world. And it is also why we are now controlling the export of the other drugs used in lethal injection in the US.”
Secretary Cable further announced that the UK would encourage the European Union to follow suit and apply the control “on an EU-wide basis.”
In the frenzy to continue capital punishment amid pressure from prisons and victims rights groups, many States resorted to the use of pentobarbital. Pentobarbital is commonly used to euthanize animals and for medical treatment. Ohio and Oklahoma are the only states currently using the new substitute. Georgia officials have confirmed traveling to both states to learn more about its use.
An April 13 article by the New York Times revealed that some states have conspired to continue to obtain sodium thiopental, going so far as to traffick the drug from other sources, including black markets.
One deposition in a lawsuit brought by a death row inmate indicated that an Arkansas Department of Corrections official drove to Tennessee and Texas in order to bring the drug to Arkansas for an eminent execution.
Over 1,000 inmates have been executed in the United States since the first execution on December 7, 1982.
Photo Courtesy of CNN. For More Information Please Visit:
IPS News – Lethal Injection Treads Murky Ethical Waters – 29 April 2011
Amnesty International – Lethal Injection – January 2011
Full Text Reports – Government Bans Export of Lethal Injection Drugs to the U.S. – 20 April 2011
