The Oklahoman reports, "Oklahoma is running low on supply of drug used in lethal injections." It's by Andrew Knittle.
The state Corrections Department is running low on a $1,800-per-dose drug used to execute Oklahoma inmates, and there may not be an acceptable replacement available on the market.
Department spokesman Jerry Massie said the U.S. firm who makes pentobarbital — a fast-acting barbiturate originally designed to sedate animals — has stopped selling the drug to institutions that perform executions.
Pentobarbital is the first of three drugs administered to a condemned prisoner, causing unconsciousness.
It's followed by vecuronium bromide, which stops respiration. Potassium chloride, which stops the heart, is the final drug injected.
In December 2010, Oklahoma became the first state to use pentobarbital during an execution of a human being.
And:
Since then, Oklahoma has executed three prisoners using pentobarbital. The last one was in Gary Roland Welch in January. Welch was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996.
Massie said the state has three doses of pentobarbital left.
“We bought more last year, ahead of any executions because we thought this might happen,” he said. “In the past, our practice had been to buy enough for the year, though.”
The article notes that Oklahoma state law specifies the use of the electric chair and firing squad as alternative methods of execution if lethal injection is not available.
"Prisons chief says Okla. needs execution options," is the AP filing, via the Wichita Falls Times Record News.
Oklahoma's top prison official says the state needs to plan for the future of executions as it faces a shortage of a lethal injection drug that is difficult to obtain.
Corrections Director Justin Jones said Monday the state has four doses left of pentobarbital, which manufacturers have objected to selling for use in executions. It's unclear what the state will do if it exhausts its supply.
It was reported last week that Texas is facing a shortage of pentobarbital.
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