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Drug for Executions Acquired, Injuction Stands

By Angela Hatton

Eddyville, KY – Kentucky has acquired a key drug used in lethal injections from a Georgia company, but because of a judge's order in an ongoing case, can't schedule any executions. Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin says 18 grams of sodium thiopental arrived at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville last week. The drug, one of three used in a lethal injection, has been in short supply since the sole maker of it in the United States, Hospira Incorporated of Lake Forest, Illinois, halted production. The Kentucky Supreme Court is reviewing a judge's order in a case regarding the state's lethal injection procedures and has halted all executions in the interim.