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| New life for death penalty debate |
| By omaha.com - Joe Duggan |
| Published: 12/22/2011 |
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LINCOLN — Nebraska's recent purchase of a drug used in executions of death row inmates could inject a new facet into the death penalty debate when the Legislature convenes in two weeks. Last year, the Judiciary Committee advanced LB 276, which would replace capital punishment with life in prison without parole. The bill will be debated on the floor sometime during the 2012 session. Given majority support for capital punishment among Nebraska lawmakers, it seems unlikely that the bill will pass. But that won't stop Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha and other death penalty opponents from making their arguments for repeal. Recent claims by a Swiss drug manufacturer that it was duped out of vials of sodium thiopental, which, in turn, were sold to Nebraska, undoubtedly will be mentioned during debate on LB 276, Council told The World-Herald last week. The anesthetic is part of Nebraska's three-drug protocol for execution by lethal injection. "I don't think the state should be involved in utilizing a product that the manufacturer has maintained was obtained under false pretenses," Council said. "If you know the manufacturer had no intention that the drug be shipped to the United States — let alone to be used in lethal injection — that obliges you to step back," she said. Death penalty opponents sense an opportunity because of the difficulty Nebraska has had in obtaining sodium thiopental. And getting the drug promises to become even more daunting. It is no longer made in the United States. Supplies seem likely to get even tighter after Tuesday's news reports that the European Commission will strengthen export controls on the sale of thiopental and other lethal injection drugs to nations that have not abolished the death penalty. If foes of capital punishment can delay a Nebraska execution long enough or win a legal challenge based on how the state bought its latest batch of the anesthetic, it could force a change in the three-drug protocol. Making such a change ought to require new legislation, contends Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The 2009 legislative debate over the lethal injection law was tied so closely to the three-drug protocol that changing it should return the debate to square one, the senator argued. "When the state elects to take a life of someone — no matter how heinous that person may be, no matter how deserving that person may be — there is a high public interest in how the State of Nebraska proceeds," Ashford said. But there's hardly consensus among lawmakers that changing the protocol would require new legislation. Read More. |
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Nebraska will, likely, switch to the one drug protocol of Ohio. It is simpler, cheaper, effective, with fewer invented "problems". Likely, the drug will be: Pentobarbital: The "New" Lethal Injection Drug Dudley Sharp As usual, we have a collection of anti death penalty lawyers/activists intentionally pretending to be ignorant "the sky is falling" chicken littles. No surprise. 1) Pentobarbital's characteristics have been known in the medical literature, starting in 1931. (1) 2) Pentobarbital is used for human euthanasia, worldwide, inclusive of in the US (2) , meaning its use in intentionally bringing about painless and peaceful death in humans is well proven and well known; 3) government officials are well aware of this, just as they are of the proper dosage needed for executions, just as with the previous first drug, sodium thiopental; and 4) Several states, Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Oklahoma, Delaware and Georgia, have used pentobarbital in their lethal injection protocol, with the expected result, no complications and the death of the inmate. No surprise. 1) http://www.memidex.com/pentobarbital-sodium 2) http://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Pentobarbital.html#Human_Euthanasia 3) http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/02/2342423/doctors-testify-on-new-use-of.html#ixzz1Twt4xzgH
It is well known that any shortage of sodium thiopental represents a real danger for patients. "It is an unfortunate irony that many more lives will be lost or put in jeopardy as a result of not having the drug available for its legitimate medical use," says the American Society of Anesthesiologists. http://outpatientsurgery.net/news/2011/01/30-anesthesiologists-%E2%80%9Cextremely-troubled%E2%80%9D-by-sodium-thiopental-shortage Dudley Sharp