From the AP:
Facing a nationwide shortage of a lethal injection drug, Arizona has taken an unusual step that other death penalty states may soon follow: get their supplies from another country.
Such a move, experts say, raises questions about the effectiveness of the drug. But it also may further complicate executions in the 35 states that allow them, as inmates challenge the use of drugs not approved by federal inspectors for use in the U.S.
Arizona said Tuesday that it got its sodium thiopental from Great Britain, the first time a state has acknowledged obtaining the drug from outside the United States since the shortage began slowing executions in the spring.
"This drug came from a reputable place," Chief Deputy Attorney General Tim Nelson said. "There's all sorts of wild speculation that it came from a third-world country, and that's not accurate."
Nelson said the state revealed the drug's origins to let the public know that its supply is trustworthy and to dispel rumors. However, he did not name the company that manufactured it.
...
There are no FDA-approved overseas manufacturers of the drug.
The limited supply has also directly affected executions in California, Kentucky and Oklahoma, and may affect executions in Missouri, which says its supply of sodium thiopental expires in January.
...
The issue will come down to whether an overseas version of sodium thiopental would be equivalent to what the FDA has approved here, said Ty Alper, associate director of the death penalty clinic at the University of California-Berkeley.
Does this give death penalty opponents a new avenue to pursue, higher tariffs on lethal injection drugs, to make the process more expensive?
And note the reference to "equivalence" in the last quoted paragraph. I don't think the SPS Agreement (and its Article 4 provisions on equivalence) would apply here, but similar issues could arise under other agreements if the sale of foreign products is not allowed.
And by the way, I fully expect this to be my first, last, and only post on the death penalty.
