Ohio's supply of execution drugs is running low, according to new reports. If the state plunges ahead with the current 10 death sentences on the books through March 2014, the remaining stock will only support seven executions before the tank hits “E” in fall 2013.
The supply cut is due to business decisions on the part of the drug's distributor. The distribution rights for pentobarbita were sold off to another firm last year, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The new owner pledge to keep the chemical away from death rows.
That leaves state officials around the country with a head-scratcher about how to procure more supply. There are other options on the table.
Prisons director Gary Mohr testified in federal court in March that an altered version of pentobarbital or a supply imported from overseas would not necessarily violate the prison’s execution policies. Expired batches of the drug would violate the policies, he said.Other states are also facing possible pentobarbital shortages, and Missouri switched to another drug altogether earlier this year.
Or we could just dust off the gallows, right? Re-juice the chair? Not humane enough for you? How about just dropping the whole capital punishment thing?
