As states con­tin­ue to seek alter­na­tive drugs and drug sources for lethal injec­tions, three sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ments occurred last week. Indiana announced recent­ly that they would use Brevital, an anes­thet­ic, as the first drug in its three-drug pro­to­col. On May 27, Par Pharmaceutical, the pro­duc­er of Brevital, released a state­ment announc­ing efforts to pre­vent the use of their prod­uct in exe­cu­tions. The state­ment said, ​“The state of Indiana’s pro­posed use is con­trary to our mis­sion. Par is work­ing with its dis­tri­b­u­tion part­ners to estab­lish dis­tri­b­u­tion con­trols on Brevital® to pre­clude whole­salers from accept­ing orders from depart­ments of cor­rec­tion.” On May 29, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster gave a speech in which he sug­gest­ed that the state of Missouri begin pro­duc­ing exe­cu­tion drugs. Missouri has had dif­fi­cul­ty obtain­ing lethal injec­tion drugs and faced chal­lenges to its lethal injec­tion secre­cy law. Koster said that state pro­duc­tion of the drugs would increase trans­paren­cy, adding, ​“As a mat­ter of pol­i­cy, Missouri should not be reliant on mer­chants whose iden­ti­ties must be shield­ed from pub­lic view or who can exer­cise unac­cept­able lever­age over this pro­found state act.” Missouri would be the first state to set up a state-oper­at­ed lab for pro­duc­ing exe­cu­tion drugs. In Texas, Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an order defend­ing secre­cy for lethal injec­tion drug sources. The state­ment rep­re­sents a rever­sal for the Attorney General, who had pre­vi­ous­ly reject­ed argu­ments from the Department of Criminal Justice that secre­cy was necessary.

(“Indiana use of new exe­cu­tion drug draws oppo­si­tion,” Associated Press, May 31, 2014; ​“Par Pharmaceutical Statement on Brevital® Sodium,” Par Pharmaceutical, May 27, 2014; M. Berman, ​“Missouri attor­ney gen­er­al wants the state to pro­duce its own lethal injec­tion drugs,” Washington Post, May 29, 2014; N. Merchant and M. Graczyk, ​“Texas’ top pros­e­cu­tor: Drug source can be secret,” Associated Press, May 30, 2014.) See Lethal Injection.

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