Oklahoma solves sodium thiopental shortage problem (drug used in lethal injections)

Oklahoma to use animal drugs to execute humans

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, November 14th, 2010 -- 3:07 pm

Oklahoma to use animal drugs to execute humans

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/oklahoma-animal-drugs-execute-humans/

WASHINGTON — Faced with a national shortage of a key drug used for lethal injections, Oklahoma now hopes to turn to an anesthetic used to put down animals and is awaiting a court ruling on the issue.

For months now, several US states have struggled to find supplies of sodium thiopental -- the first and most crucial of three drugs used in lethal injections. The shortage has forced some states to put executions on hold.

"The reason the first drug matters so much is because... if properly administered, it will put the inmate in a state of unconsciousness where he does not feel the second and third drug," University of California, Berkeley professor Elisabeth Semel told AFP.

"If you use a different drug, an unknown drug, then you don't know whether or not it has been mixed differently, whether or not the staff has the expertise to administer it properly."