Pfizer to prevent its drugs from being used for executions

Pfizer to stop allowing their medication to be used for death penalty.

(Image credit: HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 14 May 2016

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Friday that it will be putting controls on the distribution of its drugs in order to ensure none are used for lethal injections, The New York Times reports. The company's decision effectively ends the last open-market FDA-approved source for drugs used in executions. "Executing states must now go underground if they want to get hold of medicines for use in lethal injections," said Maya Foa of the London-based human rights advocacy group Reprieve.

While lethal injection is the preferred method of execution in the U.S., some states have resorted to using the electric chair, a firing squad, or gas chambers if the drugs are not available. Some states have also tried to import drugs from abroad or use straw buyers, only to have the drugs seized by federal agents.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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