The drug used by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to put death-row inmates to death is in short supply, and few alternatives are available, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
The supply of pentobarbital runs out in September, NBC reported. And that leaves the fate of two executions set for next month in question.
“We will be unable to use our current supply of pentobarbital after it expires,” said the spokesman, Jason Clark, in NBC. “We are exploring all options at this time.”
Texas has already put to death 11 prisoners this year. Another seven are scheduled for executions in the next few months.
The state already experienced a shortfall of execution drug solutions in the past. In fact, Texas switched to pentobarbital — which is a one-shot kill — in recent months because one of the drugs used in its previous three-shot executions became difficult to obtain, NBC said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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