Lethal injection drug shortage in the US

Executions have been halted in several US states this week, not because clemency has been secured, or a moratorium has been called. No, executions are halted because the drug used in the first stage of death by lethal injection has almost run out.

Yes, run out and not expected to be in stock until 2011. Meanwhile state prisons are frantically trying to get hold of the drug as nine states have planned 17 executions before the end of January. It’s like a weird opposite of the Tamiflu crisis, everyone panicking because they can’t get hold of a drug… only this one is needed to kill people, not keep them alive.

Stocks of sodium thiopental, the drug used in the first stage of lethal injection, are so low that in some states, namely Oklahoma, there’s an odd case of Russian roulette taking place. Two convicted killers are in line to be executed, waiting to find out who draws the short straw. Prison officials want to execute Jeffrey Matthews, but state prosecutors would rather use the last dose on Donald Ray Wackerly. Now they have to battle it out amongst themselves, until a decision can be made.

In Kentucky the governor has been presented with three death warrants to sign, but only one dose of the drug available and in Arizona Jeffrey Landrigan is due to be executed, but lawyers have said it won’t take place because they too have run out of sodium thiopental.

In California time ran out rather than the drug. Albert Brown was due to executed, but a delay on his execution by the judge has meant that stocks of the drugs will expire before a decision is made, meaning he won’t be executed this year at all.

Just to make the story even odder, Arkansas has the drug, but won’t be lending it out. Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for the Arkansas prison system says that the state has enough sodium thiopental on hand, but that the drug will probably not be needed as there are no executions imminent in the state. She did however state that: “if we were doing any executions right now there would be a great chance of (the shortage) impacting Arkansas.” Perhaps that’s why they’re not sharing.

Other drugs can not be used instead of sodium thiopental, despite many existing which produce similar effects on the body. Use of sodium thiopental has gone through prolonged court hearings regarding its use as part of the three stage lethal injection process and using a different drug would mean prisoners could appeal, delaying their executions further.

In perhaps the most peculiar twist in the tale, the drug company who make sodium thiopental, in fact the only company, who make sodium thiopental in the US, don’t even want their drug being used for the death penalty. Hospira, a drug company based in Illinois, said in a statement on Wednesday: "The drug is not indicated for capital punishment, and Hospira does not support its use in this procedure." Hospira spokesman Dan Rosenberg has stated that the company can’t control how physicians use the drug. He also added that many drugs could be used in lethal injection procedures, "most of which…are intended by their producers for other uses."

In all, this ‘crisis’ exposes the absurdity of the death penalty and highlights the strange and often contradictory nature of the elements which make up the whole procedure. I just hope that in the face of all this illogicality we remember that this situation affects real people. Those waiting to be executed and their families are put under tremendous pressure which is certainly cruel and unusual, but this farce must also be a stinging blow to family members of murder victims. The death penalty is said to serve them justice, but this situation does nothing for anyone, least of all them.