MSN/Reuters: According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, it has run of of the drugs it uses for executions, noted in a filing in the court case challenging the state's execution methods.
The state's supply of Midazolam, a sedative, expired on May 31, and it has not been able to replace it. Midazolam [US brand name: Versed] is classified as a benzodiazipine and has stopped being used since 7 death row inmates filed a suit claiming it's use was cruel and unusual punishment. Two other drugs used in the process have run out as well, pentobarbitol and sodium thiopental. Arizona has not carried out an execution since 2014 when the botched execution of Joseph Wood sent the state into an uproar. I remember this in minute detail being that I live in Phoenix. It was bad.
Drug company Pfizer Inc. has banned the sale of execution drugs including Midazolam, cutting off the last major source in the United States for the drugs used. From what I understand, Europe had denied the U.S. access to their supply because they disagree with the policy of the drugs being used for executing people. Now, I'm not going to go into what I think of that because frankly that's on them, but we're going to have to get it from somewhere if we plan on continuing lethal injection as a method of execution.
When I was a kid, living here in the suburbs, I remember when a young girl a few years my senior went missing. Her name was Christy Ann Fornoff, and she was 13 when she went missing and my Mom knew her parents. She had attended my school and we went to the same church. My Mom went into complete freak out mode but since nobody felt free to enlighten me on the details, I had no clue what that was about. I remember her giving me a hard time and specifically telling me that bad things happened but it wasn't until many years later that my Mom and I discussed what happened to her and that the man who killed her was going to be executed for raping and killing her...27 years after he killed her and hid her body behind a dumpster where he lived.
If we're going to do it, why are we waiting 27 years? If we're going to use drugs, why are we messing around with stuff we can't get or that malfunctions so bad it becomes a torture chamber? If we're going to do it, don't take your time, do it right or find some other way of doing it. I'm not even sure anymore that it is an effective way of punishment because it sure the hell isn't scaring anybody strait. I'm out to get my weekend on. Go get your weekend on. Be safe.
