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Pfizer Blocks The Use Of Its Drugs In Executions

Posted by BeauHD on from the right-and-wrong dept.

HughPickens.com writes: Erik Eckholm reports in the NYT that the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced that it has imposed sweeping controls on the distribution of its products to ensure that none are used in lethal injections, a step that closes off the last remaining open-market source of drugs used in executions. "Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve," the company says, and "strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment." "With Pfizer's announcement, all F.D.A.-approved manufacturers of any potential execution drug have now blocked their sale for this purpose," says Maya Foa. "Executing states must now go underground if they want to get hold of medicines for use in lethal injection." The mounting difficulty in obtaining lethal drugs has already caused states to furtively scramble for supplies. Some states have used straw buyers or tried to import drugs from abroad that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, only to see them seized by federal agents. Other states have experimented with new drug combinations, sometimes with disastrous results, such as the prolonged execution of Joseph Wood in Arizona in 2014, using the sedative midazolam. A few states have adopted the electric chair, firing squad or gas chamber as an alternative if lethal drugs are not available. Since Utah chooses to have a death penalty, "we have to have a means of carrying it out," said State Representative Paul Ray as he argued last year for authorization of the firing squad.

10 of 566 comments (clear)

  1. Let me be the first to say by Firethorn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just switch to nitrogen asphyxiation if you want a humane execution which isn't dependent upon strapping the condemned down to a table, having to have a non-professional put an IV in, trouble getting drugs, etc...

    The supplies can be had at any welding shop for not much money.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
    1. Re:Let me be the first to say by Vrallis · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Unfortunately that would never happen. I'm sure it would be the usual setup of a physician ensuring the location of the heart is marked as a target, multiple people firing, probably with a couple pointless blanks (shooters can tell the difference, hence pointless). A single shot to the head would be too reminiscent of executions by dictators and terrorists.

      While I'm perfectly fine with execution when there is absolute proof of guilt there are too many people on death row under falsified evidence or just plain shit law enforcement or legal work. Right now incarceration for life is cheaper anyway.

    2. Re:Let me be the first to say by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You know there's a youtube video called how to kill a human being where the pro death penalty guy is against nitrogen asphyxiation because it literally isn't gruesome enough.

      --
      Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
    3. Re:Let me be the first to say by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This isn't about forcing nitrogen into the body at high pressure

      That would cause nitrogen narcosis, which would actually be a pleasurable way to die. I have felt it a bit when doing deep scuba dives, and it was a nice feeling. I have heard it compared to cocaine. Fortunately, I was still sober enough to start heading up before I did something stupid enough to kill myself.

    4. Re:Let me be the first to say by EzInKy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not all killing is murder. Please follow along. The state decides what is just killing and what is murder.

      The same goes for stealing. The states decides which of your earning is theirs, and which of your earnings is yours.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    5. Re:Let me be the first to say by tlambert · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You know there's a youtube video called how to kill a human being where the pro death penalty guy is against nitrogen asphyxiation because it literally isn't gruesome enough.

      Exactly - to all appearances, the American penal system is not primarily about justice or rehabilitation, but revenge and control.

      It's actually about giving the rest of society an incentive to not engage in the same crimes for which someone else was found guilty. Just like the police do not come until a crime is happening, or after the fact, a disincentive can not be given until someone is judged guilty by a jury of their peers.

      The police are not there to save you from a crime, they are there to clean up after the fact. The penal system is not enacting it's penalties with an aim to rehabilitate e.g. Jeffrey Dahmer, it's enacting its penalties to stop the next Jeffrey Dahmer from eating his first victim.

    6. Re:Let me be the first to say by tlambert · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There is a large difference between someone choosing to be put out of their misery and the state killing someone for some sense of vengeance.

      I have to say:

      Someone who commits a crime for which the penalty is death has chosen to be put out of their misery. It's suicide by state, and in many ways is no different than suicide by cop or suicide by jumping in front of a BART train.

    7. Re:Let me be the first to say by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 4, Interesting

      you're talking about america. people would queue if given the chance to press the electrocute button.

      if i could pick how to be executed, my friend (A&E nurse) tells me insulin injection and subsequent hypoglycemic shock is as peaceful a way to go as it gets. i'm also pretty sure it allows for organ harvest which i'd definitely want.

    8. Re:Let me be the first to say by Aruta · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Why the need to kill them early? Leave them in prison until dead. Same result, except for the death penalty causing an early and painful death, purely for revenge. They are not shown to decrease crime,

      Well, the difference is that, in prison, they are a drain on the taxes. Decent people work all their life to survive, yet criminals get all they need. What's more, exactly the same people who oppose death penalty are also very likely to make a fuss about prisoner's rights. Make criminals work for their upkeep, and make them work hard. If they don't, let them suffer and starve like normal people do when they don't work. And refuse them any benefits which would apply to non-convicts. They have thrown away their rights the moment they commited a crime. It's not about revenge. It's about punishment and deterrent, with minimum cost to the society.

      --
      This universe shipped by weight, not by volume. Some expansion of the contents may have occurred during shipment.
  2. Re:I live in Florida by johanw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And then your state executes my relative who later is proven to be not guilty. For revenge, I will execute the judge(s) and executioner who murdered my relative. Is that OK with you?