Oklahoma postponed two executions because it ran out of lethal injection drugs

Getty Images

Oklahoma postponed two executions because it ran out of lethal injection drugs
(Image credit: Getty Images)

An Oklahoma court on Tuesday postponed the scheduled executions of two inmates due to a shortage of lethal injection drugs. The decision came one day after the state said it could not find two of the drugs needed to carry out executions.

Oklahoma is hardly alone in its inability to find an adequate supply of death row drugs. As we noted last month, the sole U.S. manufacturer of the common execution drug sodium thiopental stopped producing the compound in 2011, and increased regulation of other would-be European producers has kept foreign supplies from taking its place.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.