Murphy Imposes Death Penalty Moratorium

There is a worldwide shortage of sodium thiopental, one of the drugs used in the three drug cocktail that makes up lethal injections for the death penalty.  Apparently there is only one company that makes it, Hospira, and they won’t have any until next year, because demand for it has usually been low.  The FDA does not even list it as being useable for capital punishment, but instead as an anesthetic for use in hospitals.

Ohio and Washington have been using sodium thiopental alone in high doses for lethal injection, draining the supplies when coupled with the Texas death penalty express lane.  You’d think Texas would just shoot ‘em. Maybe now they will have to.

Lethal drug supply dries up, postponing US executions – Yahoo! News.