As states try to secure the drugs for car­ry­ing out lethal injec­tions, they are increas­ing­ly resort­ing ​“to secre­cy and back­up exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols neces­si­tat­ed by drug short­ages instead of treat­ing those con­demned to death with the dig­ni­ty appro­pri­ate to any human life,” accord­ing to a recent arti­cle in the Crime Report by Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center. The arti­cle described a num­ber of des­per­ate mea­sures tak­en by states, such as secret­ly obtain­ing drugs from ques­tion­able sources over­seas, des­ig­nat­ing a phar­ma­cy as part of the ​“exe­cu­tion team” to hide its iden­ti­ty, and try­ing drugs nev­er used before in exe­cu­tions. The arti­cle traces the his­to­ry of lethal injec­tions, cul­mi­nat­ing in the refusal of many drug com­pa­nies to allow their prod­ucts to be used in exe­cu­tions. On November 12, Florida will employ a risky 3‑drug pro­ce­dure, includ­ing a crit­i­cal seda­tive only used once before in an exe­cu­tion. On November 14, Ohio intends to use a new injec­tion process nev­er tried before in U.S. executions.

(R. Dieter, ​“The Lethal Injection Debacle,” Crime Report, November 12, 2013). See Lethal Injection and State Information.

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