http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101027/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_executionBy AMANDA LEE MYERS and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Amanda Lee Myers And Andrew Welsh-huggins, Associated Press – 1 hr 41 mins ago
FLORENCE, Ariz. – Facing a nationwide shortage of a lethal injection drug, Arizona has taken an unusual step that other death penalty states may soon follow: get their supplies from another country.
Such a move, experts say, raises questions about the effectiveness of the drug. But it also may further complicate executions in the 35 states that allow them, as inmates challenge the use of drugs not approved by federal inspectors for use in the U.S.
Arizona said Tuesday that it got its sodium thiopental from Great Britain, the first time a state has acknowledged obtaining the drug from outside the United States since the shortage began slowing executions in the spring.
"This drug came from a reputable place," Chief Deputy Attorney General Tim Nelson said. "There's all sorts of wild speculation that it came from a third-world country, and that's not accurate."
Nelson said the state revealed the drug's origins to let the public know that its supply is trustworthy and to dispel rumors. However, he did not name the company that manufactured it.
Without assurances of the drug's quality, many questions will be raised, including its effectiveness and how it should be handled, and would serve as a basis for lawsuits, said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University.
"The impact could be huge," Denno said. "The source of the thiopental is critical."
Tuesday night, Arizona executed Jeffrey Landrigan for a 1989 murder in the state's first execution since 2007. Landrigan died by injection at a state prison in Florence at 10:26 p.m. after a stay issued by a federal judge was lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Landrigan's lawyers had argued he could be suffocated painfully if the sodium thiopental doesn't render him unconscious. In lethal injections, sodium thiopental makes an inmate unconscious before a second drug paralyzes him and a third drug stops his heart.Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., the sole U.S. manufacturer of the drug, has blamed the shortage on unspecified problems with its raw-material suppliers and said new batches will not be available until January at the earliest
So complain to Customer service.
We should have stuck with rope, it's eco friendly

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