VIRGINIA (USA): DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS SUBSTITUTES PENTOBARBITAL FOR SODIUM THIOPENTAL

May 9, 2011: The Virginia Department of Corrections will substitute pentobarbital for sodium thiopental, whose sole U.S. manufacturer announced in January it would no longer make the drug. It is not clear whether Virginia purchased sodium thiopental from overseas, and if so whether the Drug Enforcement Administration also seized its supply.
Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor referred all questions to the Attorney General’s Office, which refused to answer questions about whether Virginia had obtained sodium thiopental from overseas. Virginia will continue to use a three-drug cocktail, only substituting the sedative drugs, said Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.
The 1st drug sedates the inmate, while a 2nd stops his breathing and the 3rd stops the heart.
“The Virginia protocol for lethal injection has been litigated and has been found to be constitutionally acceptable by every court in Virginia that has looked at it ... and we are confident that the change to allow the drug pentobarbital to be substituted for sodium thiopental in the protocol will be found to be constitutionally acceptable, as well,” Gottstein said.
Pentobarbital has survived legal challenges in other states and has been used for recent executions in Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. (Source: Associated Press, Hands Off Cain, 09/05/2011)