Posted 10/24/2010 01:04:00 PM by Douglas

Only one company in the United States makes sodium thiopental, and we desperately need it to execute people. So if there's a shortage, what can we do? Buy cheap Chinese knockoff drugs, of course.

In the midst of a drug shortage that has already forced postponement of lethal injection executions across the United States, some states say they now have the drug in hand but are refusing to disclose its origin.

The unprecedented situation has been compounded by an inmate scheduled to die Tuesday but who is suing to stop his own execution, arguing that the drug which the state of Arizona intends to use may be counterfeit or unsafe.

Unsafe? What's it going to do, kill them? And how sad is it when the production capacity of the entire country doesn't produce enough juice needed to kill people.

Some states like Texas and Ohio have enough thiopental to carry on with their execution schedules, but others like Kentucky have been forced to put capital punishment on hold.

Well that's a relief, Texas. I'm sure Texas gets it from the manufacturer in rail cars. But what if you run out?

The central state of Oklahoma has borrowed doses of the drug from its neighbor Arkansas.

That's got to be an awkward call. I'm sure the Okies called Texas, too, but they probably didn't answer the phone.

At a recent hearing, an Arizona judge sounded puzzled about the need for FDA approval for the drug.

"What difference does that make?" judge Andrew Hurwitz asked.

"It strikes me as strange that the FDA law was meant to regulate executions... These are drugs that are going to be used to kill somebody."

If it's OK to shoot people, then the judge has a point.