The Costly New Supply Of S.Q. Execution Drug

San Quentin – The state paid $13,415 for 521 grams of sodium thiopental, the drug used to carry out executions at the prison. The drug was manufactured by Archimedes Pharma of Great Britain. The department had to go overseas to order the drug because CDCR’s domestic supplier, Hospira Inc., claiming production problems, was unable to deliver a fresh supply. Sodium thiopental, widely used as a general anesthetic, is the first of the three drug cocktail given to prisoners when they are executed. Currently the United States has a shortage of sodium thiopental forcing multiple states to slow or even halt their executions. This shortage caused the September 29 cancellation of the scheduled execution of Albert Greenwood Brown. The new supply will expire in 2014.