Facing a shortage of supplies for lethal injections, US law enforcement officials have begun executing prisoners with an animal anesthetic that has not been approved at the federal level, with the first such execution coming this week.
European pharmacies, citing a moral issue with capital punishment, have stopped sending certain drugs to regions of the US that still carry out the death penalty, areas that include Ohio, Missouri, Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Arizona.
States are still using pentobarbital, intended to euthanize animals, while local supplies last but those without that option have begun “making changes in their lethal injection process,” Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told Agence France Presse.
Missouri had planned to use propofol – the common anesthetic that killed pop star Michael Jackson – for an October execution, but concerns about access to the drug via its German manufacturer Fresenius Kabi led to a reconsideration by state Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday.
“This is a decision that will be welcomed by the medical community and patients nationwide who were deeply concerned about the potential of a drug shortage,” John Ducker, CEO of Fresenius Kabi USA, told the Associated Press.
Propofol is used about 50 million times annually in the US, according to the company.
“This is a continuing theme: every time a state starts to use a new drug, the company that makes that drug stops selling it,” said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University and expert on the subject.
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