USA - 4 states have illegally purchased lethal drugs from a man based in India

A BuzzFeed investigation tracked down multiple illegal sales of thousands of vials of outdated sodium thiopental. 4 U.S. states, and likely a 5th, have illegally purchased lethal drugs from a man based in India, despite both the death penalty drug and the supplier lacking approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Sodium thiopental, is an anesthetic that is no longer produced in the U.S. and largely seen as an outdated method of execution. Still, Nebraska, South Dakota, Idaho and Ohio went around FDA restrictions on drug imports and ordered over US$50,000 worth of the drug. Investigations into the purchases caused enough delays for the drugs to expire. According to the report, Chris Harris, the supplier, first sold the drugs from the Mumbai-based Kayem Pharmaceuticals, where he was a broker. From there the drug went to the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Naari, which pretended to ship them to Africa. Harris then sold the drugs to his own company, Harris Pharm, which was registered in both Salt Lake City, Utah, and Salt Lake City, Kolkata - in India. He denied repeated requests for comment by Buzzfeed, but multiple emails confirm that he secured "minimum orders" of increasing amounts from correctional facilities. Chris Harris has sold execution drugs to U.S. states at least six times in recent years, although none of the drugs from those shipments have ever been used in an execution. The most high-profile case involves Nebraska Governor Pete Rickett, who placed 3 separate orders for thousands of vials of the drugs despite having just 10 men on death row. Until May, when the Nebraska state legislature overrode Rickett's veto to abolish the death penalty, sodium thiopental was the only drug allowed for execution. When the drug was no longer manufactured in the U.S., Rickett turned to Harris, even though the Rickett's Correctional Facility did not have a license to import the drug. Probes by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and lawsuits filed by lawyers of death row inmates ultimately prevented the drugs from being used. Despite the controversy, Harris's reputation has remained somewhat intact: at least 2 U.S. companies, Caligor Rx and Priority Pharmaceuticals, have expressed interest in working with him.