The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 the state  had deliberately misled McKesson to believe  that the purchase was for legitimate medical purposes.58 In June 2017, Hospira – the sole United States company approved to manufacture sodium thiopental – reportedly announced that it will no longer produce the drug.59 In Nevada, Scott Dozier’s execution scheduled for November 2017 was postponed by a District Court in response to a challenge by the United States-based pharmaceutical company Alvogen, which urged the court to block the use of its drug midazolam in lethal injections.60 Subsequently, the states of Nebraska and Nevada announced that they will change their drug protocols and use fentanyl, a controversial opioid anesthetic, and the paralytic cisatracurium, which have never been used before in lethal injections (see also above).61 The shortage of sodium thiopental has forced the 35 states using lethal injection to search for any remaining stock and to explore alternatives. Several states have reportedly turned to unreliable distributors.62 In 2015, for instance, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized a shipment of sodium thiopental that Texas and Arizona had ordered from an unreliable supplier in India.63 In January 2017, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice sued the FDA for the seizure of the drugs. In April 2017, the FDA announced its refusal to release the illegally imported drugs.64 Oklahoma, another state forced to change its lethal injection protocols due to the drug shortage, started to use pentobarbital, a drug commonly used to euthanize animals.65 Pharmacy compounding, a practice in which a licensed pharmacist combines, mixes, or alters ingredients in response to a prescription, is said to be one of the untrustworthy sources of lethal drugs. 66 Such practices must be licensed by a state 58  “State and Federal Courts Grant Stays, Preliminary Injunctions Blocking 8 Arkansas Executions”, Death Penalty Information Center, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/6735>. 59  “Lethal Injection Drug Shortage”, the Council of State Governments, July-August 2017, <http://www.csg. org/pubs/capitolideas/enews/issue65_4.aspx>, (hereafter, “Lethal Injection Drug Shortage”, the Council of State Governments). 60  “Scott Dozier case: Hours before execution, judge in pharma company suit halts use of drug”, CBS News , 11 July 2018, <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-dozier-case-nevada-judge-halts-use-of-drug-hours-before-execution-after-companys-suit/>. In July 2018, despite the amended lethal injection protocol, the rescheduled execution was halted again, just before it was due to take place. 61  “Nevada Says Fentanyl Was Easy to Obtain, But Execution Protocol Draws Criticism from Doctors, Legal Experts”, Death Penalty Information Center, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/6955>. 62  For more information on alternative drug protocols and methods of execution discussed in different states, see: “State by State Lethal Injection”, Death Penalty Information Center, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-lethal-injection>, (hereafter, “State by State Lethal Injection”, Death Penalty Information Center). 63  “Arizona, Texas Attempted to Import Illegal Lethal Injection Drugs Linked to Indian Supplier with Troubling History”, Death Penalty Information Center, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/6280>. 64  “FDA’s Admissibility Determination for Sodium Thiopental Entry”, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 20 April 2017, <https://www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OfficeofGlobalRegulatoryOperationsandPolicy/ORA/ORAElectronicReadingRoom/UCM555237.pdf>. 65  “Lethal Injection Drug Shortage”, the Council of State Governments, op. cit., note 62. 66  “The Special Risks of Pharmacy Compounding”, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, <http://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20170111235218/http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm107836.htm>. 18