Montgomery, AL – Alabama's prisons commissioner says the state has enough of the drug sodium thiopental to carry out executions that have been requested by the attorney general's office.
A nationwide shortage of the drug has caused some states to search for new suppliers since the sole U.S. manufacturer suspended production in 2009.
The attorney general's office has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to set execution dates for three inmates. Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas said Wednesday the state has enough of the drug to handle those executions. He said the state may have to eventually use a different drug.
Thomas said Alabama's law does not specify what drugs are to be used. He said the change could be made by prisons officials, unlike some states where lawmakers must authorize the change.
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