Company to stop making drug commonly used in executions

[cory777]

Source: Washington Post

The U.S. company that makes a drug most states use in lethal injection announced Friday that it would no longer produce the powerful anesthetic, a decision that throws capital punishment in the United States into disarray.

The decision by Hospira of Lake Forest., Ill., was prompted by demands from Italy, which does not have capital punishment, that no sodium thiopental - which the company had planned to make at its plant outside Milan - be used for executions, officials said.

"We determined we could not prevent the drug from being diverted for use in capital punishment," said Dan Rosenberg, a Hospira spokesman. He noted that the company never condoned the drug's use for lethal injection and had hoped to continue making it for medical use.

Hospira's move will force states and the federal government to look for alternatives to the drug, which could require lengthy approval processes and result in costly, long-running legal challenges.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/AR2011012107091.html?wprss=rss_nation

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[robinlynne]

1. I never understood this. When my dog was in intolerable pain, she was put to

sleep quietly, in my lap, and it took minutes. Aside from our grief and sorrow, there was peace and it was painless and quick for her.

[ProudDad]

2. Good!

I don't care why the barbarism ends, just so it ends...

[Countdown_3_2_1]

3. They'll just go back to hanging or the chair.

Change the system!
Stopping the drugs won't stop the executions. Change the laws!