State by State Lethal Injection

Most states use a 3-drug combination for lethal injections: an anesthetic (either pentobarbital or, formerly, sodium thiopental), pancuronium bromide (a paralytic agent, also called Pavulon), and potassium chloride (stops the heart and causes death).

ONE DRUG: Seven states have used a single-drug method for executions--a lethal dose of an anesthetic (Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington). Four other states have announced use of one-drug lethal injection protocols, but have not carried out such an execution (Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri).

PENTOBARBITAL: Thirteen states have used pentobarbital in executions: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. Three additional states plan to use pentobarbital: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Montana.

PROPOFOL: One state plans to use propofol (Diprivan), in a single-drug protocol: Missouri

PHENOBARBITAL: One state plans to use phenobarbital, in a single-drug protocol: Arkansas

In federal executions, the method is determined by the state in which the sentencing took place. All 3 of the federal executions in the modern era have been by lethal injection carried out in a federal facility in Indiana. Apparently, a 3-drug combination was used, though prison officials did not reveal the exact ingredients. (See Washington Post, Dec. 5, 2000). The U.S. Military has not carried out any executions since reinstatement. It plans to use lethal injection.

LETHAL INJECTION "FIRSTS"

First state to use lethal injection: Texas, December 7, 1982

First state to use one-drug method: Ohio, December 8, 2009 (single drug was sodium thiopental)

First state to use pentobarbital in three-drug protocol: Oklahoma, December 16, 2010

First state to use pentobarbital in one-drug protocol: Ohio, March 10, 2011

For drugs used in individual executions, see Executions in 2009, Executions in 2010, Executions in 2011, Executions in 2012, and Executions in 2013

State-by-State Lethal Injection Information
State	Used Pentobarbital in Executions?	Used One-Drug Protocol?	Latest Information
Alabama	Yes	No	sodium thiopental seized by DEA in March 2011 (ACLU of Northern CA, 5/17/11) began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on May 19, 2011 (Reuters, 5/19/11)
Arizona*	Yes	Yes	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on May 25, 2011 (AP, 5/25/11) switched to one-drug protocol (pentobarbital) on February 29, 2012 (AP, 2/29/12) Execution protocol has been changed to allow witnesses to watch all of the execution. Previously, witnesses could not watch the insertion of IV lines (Associated Press, 6/7/12) at least enough pentobarbital for two more executions (AP, 9/19/12)
Arkansas*	No	Intends to	turned over sodium thiopental to DEA in July 2011 (AP, 7/21/11) obtained unspecified amount of sodium thiopental from British company (AP, 1/21/11) executions on hold because lethal injection law violates state constitution (2012) Legislature passed law rewriting execution protocol, calls for one-drug procedure, but does not specify drug (AP, 2/20/13) Announced plans to use phenobarbital in executions. No other state has used or plans to use the drug in executions. (AP, 4/16/13)
California*	No	No	obtained sodium thiopental from British company, enough for 86 executions (AP, 1/21/11) executions on hold due to lethal injection challenge in courts; the governor has recommended that the Dept. of Corrections consider changing to a 1-drug protocol a Superior Court judge rejected requests to set execution dates, saying he did not have jurisdiction to order the one-drug procedure that has never been used in California (AP, 9/11/12)
Colorado	No	No	executions on hold due to lethal injection challenge in courts
Connecticut	No	No	uses three-drug protocol; death penalty abolished, but 11 inmates remain on death row
Delaware	Yes	No	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on July 29, 2011 (delawareonline.com, 7/29/11)
Florida	Yes	No	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on September 28, 2011 (Washington Post, 9/29/11)
Georgia*	Yes	Yes	used foreign-bought sodium thiopental in 2 executions before sodium thiopental was seized by DEA in March 2011 (ACLU of Northern CA, 5/17/11) began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on June 23, 2011 (Reuters, 6/23/11) supply of 17 vials of pentobarbital (enough for about 6 executions) expires March 1, 2013 (AP, 2/18/13) began using one-drug protocol on February 21, 2013 (The Guardian, 2/21/13)
Idaho	Yes	Yes	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on November 18, 2011 First used one-drug method (pentobarbital) on June 12, 2012
Indiana	No	No	uses three-drug protocol
Kansas	No	No	statute does not specify drugs; no executions since in modern era
Kentucky	Intends to	Intends to	sodium thiopental was seized by DEA in April 2011 (ACLU of Northern CA, 5/17/11); a state judge has ordered the prison system to consider using a 1-drug protocol. New execution method calls for 1- or 2-drug lethal injection, depending on availability of drugs. New protocol takes effect 2/1/13, but must be approved by a judge before executions can resume. (AP, 1/31/13)
Louisiana	Intends to	Intends to	announced change to one-drug procedure using pentobarbital (Baton Rouge Advocate, 2/6/13) Execution scheduled for 2/13/13 has been stayed. Judge requires additional information on new execution procedure. (AP, 2/7/13)
Maryland	No	No	executions on hold until lethal injection procedures are enacted; death penalty abolished, 5 inmates remain on death row
Mississippi	Yes	No	began using pentobarbital in 3-drug protocol on May 10, 2011 (AFP, 5/10/11) 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear challenge to Mississippi's lethal injection protocol; executions on hold (Associated Press, 8/4/12)
Missouri	No	Intends to	announced plans to switch to one-drug protocol using 2 grams of propofol (Missouri Department of Corrections, 5/15/12)
Montana	No	No	modified protocol to allow for use of pentobarbital (KXLH.com, 8/15/11) District Court judge ruled Montana's execution procedure unconstitutional (Canadian Press, 9/6/12)
Nebraska*	No	No	obtained sodium thiopental from Indian company, enough for 166 executions (Lincoln Journal Star, 1/21/11 and 1/27/11) Carey Moore execution stayed to allow time for legal challenge of imported sodium thiopental (Lincoln Journal Star, 5/25/11) obtained new supply (485 grams, or enough for about 100 executions) of sodium thiopental from Swiss company (AP, 11/3/11) Naari AG, the Swiss company that produced Nebraska's supply, asked Nebraska to return it. Naari gave the drug to an Indian man "who said he wanted to use it and eventually sell it as an anesthetic in Zambia," and did not intend it to be used in executions. (CBS News, 11/30/11). The FDA has ordered Neb. to turn over any foreign sodium thiopental. Neb. has refused. FDA is appealing federal court ruling requiring it to recall ll foreign thiopental. (2012).
Nevada	No	No	executions on hold due to lethal injection challenge in courts
New Hampshire	No	No	statute does not specify drugs; no executions in modern era
New Mexico	No	No	abolished death penalty in 2009, two inmates remain on death row and may face execution by lethal injection
North Carolina	No	No	executions on hold due to lethal injection challenge in courts
Ohio	Yes	Yes	began using pentobarbital in one-drug protocol on March 10, 2011 (Washington Post, 3/11/11); state has a backup plan of using a 2-drug injection into the muscle of an inmate if a vein cannot be found. supply of pentobarbital expires September 2013 (AP, 9/19/12) Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has requested that doctors participate in executions and be protected from professional sanctions for doing so. (AP, 2/15/13)
Oklahoma	Yes	No	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on December 16, 2010 (CBS News, 12/17/10) enough pentobarbital for 20 executions (AP, 9/19/12)
Oregon	No	No	reselling execution drugs through reverse wholesaler after Gary Haugen execution was cancelled (The Oregonian, 1/3/12)
Pennsylvania	No	No	statute does not specify drugs
South Carolina*	Yes	No	sodium thiopental was seized by DEA in April 2011 (ACLU of Northern CA, 5/17/11) began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on May 6, 2011 (Reuters, 5/6/11)
South Dakota*	Yes	Yes	Department of Corrections officially altered lethal injection procedures to allow for a one-, two- or three-drug execution process. Changes to procedure will allow either sodium thiopental or pentobarbital to be used in one-drug protocol, or as initial drug in other protocols. State has obtained a supply of pentobarbital. (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 10/22/11) began using pentobarbital in one-drug protocol on October 15, 2012 (Associated Press, 10/16/12)
Tennessee*	No	No	sodium thiopental was seized by DEA in March 2011 (ACLU of Northern CA, 5/17/11) has no supply of sodium thiopental or pancuronium bromide (AP, 1/14/13)
Texas	Yes	Yes	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on May 3, 2011 (Wall Street Journal, 5/4/11) as of May 21, 2012, Department of Criminal Justice has enough lethal injection drugs for 23 executions (Associated Press, May 21, 2012) began using pentobarbital in one-drug protocol on July 18, 2012 (BBC News, July 18, 2012) enough pentobarbital for 23 executions (AP, 9/19/12)
Utah	No	No	uses three-drug protocol
Virginia	Yes	No	began using pentobarbital in three-drug protocol on August 18, 2011 (Washington Post, 8/18/11) announced switch from pancuronium bromide to rocuronium bromide for second drug in three-drug protocol (Associated Press, 7/27/12)
Washington	No	Yes	choice of 1- or 3-drug protocol; used 1-drug (sodium thiopental) in execution of Cal Brown on 9/10/10
Wyoming	No	No	uses three-drug protocol

* marks states that received letters in April 2012 from the FDA requesting that they turn over their foreign-sourced lethal injection drugs, in accordance with the U.S. District Court ruling in Beaty v. FDA (Lincoln Journal Star, 4/18/12)

Lethal Injection News

Arkansas: Citing an inability to acquire phenobarbital, the Department of Correction announced that they will change the protocol to comply with a law passed this year stating that executions will involve "a barbiturate in an amount sufficient to cause death." (Arkansas News Bureau, 6/17/13)
Earlier: Arkansas announced plans to use a new drug, phenobarbital, in executions. No other state has used phenobarbital in executions. (Associated Press, 4/16/13). In response, Hikma, the company that produces phenobarbital, announced it would restrict the distribution of the drug in order to avoid its use in executions. (The Guardian, 5/15/13)

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, a maker of the anesthetic propofol, has said it will estalish procedures to prevent propofol from being sold to correctional facilities. (Bloomberg News, 3/21/13)

Georgia's supply of pentobarbital will expire on March 1, 2013 (AP, 2/18/13), began using one-drug protocol on February 21, 2013 in execution of Andrew Cook (The Guardian, 2/21/13)

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has requested that doctors participate in executions and be protected from professional sanctions for doing so. (AP, 2/15/13)

Louisiana announced intentions to switch to a one-drug protocol of pentobarbital, beginning with an execution scheduled for Feb. 13. (Baton Rouge Advocate, 2/6/13)

Execution stayed, judge requires additional information on new execution procedure. (AP, 2/7/13)

Kentucky announced proposed new execution method, which calls for 1- or 2-drug lethal injection, depending on availability of drugs. New protocol takes effect 2/1/13, but must be approved by a judge before executions can resume. (AP, 1/31/13)

South Dakota switched to a one-drug protocol using pentobarbital on 10/15/12. (AP, 10/16/12) The drug used may have been obtained from a compounding pharmacy, whose products are not verified for safety or effectiveness by the FDA. (Washington Post, 10/10/12)

Missouri had planned to use the anesthetic propofol in its executions, but the main supplier of the drug announced it will not sell the drug to prisons for use in lethal injections. Fresenius Kabi USA, a company based in Germany with an office in Illinois, said such use would be "inconsistent" with its mission. (AP, 9/28/12).

Montana executions are on hold after a District Court judge ruled the state's execution procedure unconstitutional (Canadian Press, 9/6/12).

State by State Lethal Injection

LETHAL INJECTION "FIRSTS"

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Lethal Injection News