Capital Punishment’s Latest Folly

The history of capital punishment in this country has had many horrifying turnings, few more macabre than a warning from states employing lethal injection that a federal court ruling has left them facing a shortage of the imported drug they rely on to kill death-row felons.

The scarcity arose after the one domestic manufacturer stopped making sodium thiopental in 2010. In March, Judge Richard Leon of Federal District Court in Washington blocked the importation of the drug, ruling the Food and Drug Administration had not approved it for “safety and effectiveness,” as required for imports. The F.D.A.’s position was that reviewing such a drug designed for death “clearly falls outside of F.D.A.’s explicit public health role.” 

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Editorial from the NY Times. Made my head spin.  Tom

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