USA - Missouri. The Department of Corrections announced a plan to use pentobarbital from a compounding pharmacy

The Missouri Department of Corrections announced a plan to use pentobarbital after Gov. Jay Nixon postponed an execution over concerns about using propofol. The department said in a news release that it would use a compounding pharmacy to produce pentobarbital. By obtaining the drug that way, the state can sidestep large drug manufacturers, which are trying to prevent its use in capital punishment. 13 other states have used the drug for executions, but only Texas and Ohio are using compounding pharmacies, which make custom drugs in small batches. "The department also announced that it has added a compounding pharmacy to its execution team," the statement said. Asked the name of the pharmacy, department spokesman David Owen said that information could not be disclosed. Missouri is the latest of a half dozen U.S. states turning for lethal injection drugs to compounding pharmacies - which typically mix drugs for individual prescriptions and are subject to light federal government regulation. The practice has drawn protests from opponents of the death penalty and advocates for death row inmates, who say the lack of regulation risks a botched execution. A Massachusetts compounding pharmacy was the source of tainted pain injections which caused an outbreak of a rare type of meningitis last year that killed at least 50 people and sickened hundreds in 20 states. Compounding pharmacies must register with state authorities but their products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The ACLU issued a statement on Tuesday after the announcement, protesting Missouri's decision to keep the identity of its new supplier of lethal injection drugs secret. "The state has retaliated by now making it illegal to name anyone who supplies the drugs. This is not the open and transparent government that Missourians deserve," the ACLU said. Joseph Paul Franklin is the next Missouri inmate scheduled for execution on November 20.