The United Kingdom has intro­duced restic­tions on the expor­ta­tion of propo­fol after offi­cials in Missouri announced they would begin using the anes­thet­ic in exe­cu­tions. Exports of sodi­um thiopen­tal, anoth­er anes­thet­ic pre­vi­ous­ly used in exe­cu­tions, were restrict­ed after sev­er­al states obtained that drug from DreamPharma, a drug com­pa­ny run out of the back of a dri­ving school in London. Vince Cable, the U.K. Business Secretary, said, ​“This coun­try oppos­es the death penal­ty. We are clear that the state should nev­er be com­plic­it in judi­cia­ry exe­cu­tions through the use of British drugs in lethal injec­tions.” The ban will not pre­vent export of the drug for medical purposes.

Missouri is the first state to announce its inten­tion to use propo­fol in exe­cu­tions. All exe­cu­tions in 2012 have used the anes­thet­ic pen­to­bar­bi­tal. Lundbeck, Inc., the Danish pro­duc­er of pen­to­bar­bi­tal, announced restric­tions on its dis­tri­b­u­tion to avoid its use in lethal injec­tions. Recently, man­u­fac­tur­ing rights were trans­ferred to a U.S. com­pa­ny, Akorn, Inc., but restric­tions on pen­to­bar­bi­tal’s use were to stay in place. This week, Texas announced that it will begin using pen­to­bar­bi­tal in a new one-drug pro­to­col for exe­cu­tions. Four oth­er states have already used a one-drug pro­ce­dure. Oklahoma, which had pre­vi­ous­ly stat­ed that it had only enough pen­to­bar­bi­tal for one more exe­cu­tion, announced on July 11 that it had acquired 20 addi­tion­al dos­es from an unnamed source.

(“Lethal injec­tion drug exports to be banned in UK,” The Telegraph (London), July 11, 2012; Associated Press, Dec. 21, 2011 (Lundbeck); Associated Press, July 10, 2012 (TX); Tulsa World, July 12, 2012 (OK)). See Lethal Injection. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Lethal Injection. See also International.

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