FDA goes to court to secure drugs for lethal injections

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18253578

Sodium thiopental is used in many states to anaesthetise prisoners before the administration of other chemicals that extinguish life.

However supplies have dwindled in the US after a judge banned its importation in March.

Campaigners against the death penalty say the restrictions have forced a slowdown in the rate of executions.

The last US manufacturer of sodium thiopental ceased production in 2009. Since then the drug has been imported mainly from companies within the European Union. Several states purchased supplies from a UK based firm called Dream Pharma, run from a driving school in west London.

But these companies have in turn stopped delivering to the US as the European Union cracked down on the export of medicines that can be used in executions.