Ohio executed a prisoner this week with a controversial drug normally used for euthanasing animals, pentobarbital.

Ohio
executed a prisoner this week with a controversial drug normally used for
euthanasing animals, pentobarbital. Johnnie Baston, 37, had killed a store
owner in a robbery in 1994 when he was 20.  The drug formerly used for executions in Ohio and other states,
sodium thiopental, was no longer available because its manufacturer stopped
production.

Pentobarbital is available and effective.
Mr Baston was pronounced dead about 10 minutes after his injection.

Pentobarbital, also known as Nembutal, is
the drug of choice for euthanasia activists. Although it is hard to obtain in
the US and Australia, it can be purchased easily in countries like Mexico and
Thailand. Australian activist Dr Philip Nitschke encourages supporters to buy
it over the internet.

The manufacturer is not happy about using
its drug for capital punishment.

“It’s against everything we stand
for,” said Mads Kronborg, a spokesman for H. Lundbeck of Copenhagen.
Kronborg said the company had protested to state officials considering using
the drug for executions. “We invent and develop medicine with the aim of
alleviating people’s burden. This is the direct opposite of that.” ~ Washington
Post, March 11

Michael Cook
euthanasia
Nembutal