A Food and Drug Administration let­ter to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction indi­cat­ed the state was con­sid­er­ing import­ing sodi­um thiopen­tal from over­seas for use in exe­cu­tions. The let­ter warned the depart­ment that import­ing the drug would vio­late fed­er­al law: ​“Please note that there is no FDA approved appli­ca­tion for sodi­um thiopen­tal, and it is ille­gal to import an unap­proved new drug into the United States.” A sim­i­lar let­ter was sent to Nebraska offi­cials after the state spent over $50,000 in an attempt to obtain lethal injec­tion drugs from a source in India. All exe­cu­tions were put on hold in Ohio after the botched exe­cu­tion of Dennis McGuire in 2014, as the state has pur­sued a new exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. The poten­tial for­eign sup­pli­er was not revealed because Ohio, like many oth­er states, keeps the iden­ti­ty of exe­cu­tion-drug suppliers secret.

(C. McDaniel, ​“Ohio Intended To Illegally Import Execution Drugs, FDA Letter Says,” Buzzfeed, August 18, 2015). See Lethal Injection and Botched Executions.

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