Boycott of Lethal Injection Drugs may force Missouri to use Gas Chambers

Currently pharmaceutical companies throughout the world are refusing to sell the drugs used in lethal injections to correctional facilities. This has caused shortages in many states and has caused most states to switch from a three-drug protocol to a one-drug protocol.

The standard method of lethal injection uses a three-drug combination: an anaesthetic (usually pentobarbital), a paralytic agent (pancuronium bromide), and potassium chloride which stops the heart.

Now many states have switched to using just one lethal dose of anaesthetic due to shortages of the other drugs.

The anaesthetic formerly used was sodium thiopental. The only US manufacturer of the drug stopped producing it in 2011 due to controversy over its use in executions. Sodium thiopental cannot be imported into the US because it is used for the purpose of executions which is unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This caused many states to change their anaesthetic to pentobarbital. Pentobarbital is the same drug used to euthanize animals. The manufacturers of pentobarbital have refused to sell their drug for executions and require all medical facilities who buy it to sign a document saying the drug won’t be used for executions.

The switch to a one-drug injection has caused lethal injections throughout the US to be postponed due to court challenges stating that the one-drug method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. These delays are causing problems for states like Missouri because their dwindling supply of drugs are set to expire relatively soon.

Hangings, electrocution, firing squad, and lethal gas are secondary methods that can be used depending on the state in which the execution is being performed. The electric chair was last used in Virginia in January 2013, firing squad was last used June 2010 in Utah, and lethal gas was last used in March 1999 in Arizona. The Attorney General in Missouri, Chris Koster, is now advocating the use of gas chambers, the only other allowable method in Missouri, for executions while the courts decide whether one-drug injections are legal.

Missouri currently has no gas chambers, its only gas chamber is now a tourist attraction. If Missouri decides to start using gas chambers they will have to build new ones. The table below illustrates drug protocols for executing convicts sentenced to the death penalty for those states which still utilize capital punishment.