USA - Nebraska. Governor and Attorney General provided information on the purchase of lethal grugs

Gov. Pete Ricketts' and Attorney General Doug Peterson's offices provided information on the purchase of 3 drugs needed to carry out Nebraska's lethal injection. Ricketts and Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes announced late Thursday the state has 1 of the 3 drugs in its possession, potassium chloride, which stops the heart, and will receive the other 2 in the near future. Sodium thiopental, used to knock out the inmate, and pancuronium bromide, used to cause paralysis, were ordered from Harris Pharma LLP, a company based in India that has supplied the drug in the past. The drugs are being imported from outside the country, said Ricketts' spokesman Taylor Gage. The state has potassium chloride in stock in the Correction Department's central pharmacy, Gage said. It has ordered 1,000 vials of 1 gram each of sodium thiopental at a cost of $25 per vial; and 1,000 ampules of 2 mg/2 ml each of pancuronium bromide at $26 per ampule. The order is expected to be delivered soon, Gage said. The drugs would expire 3 years from the date of manufacture. On Friday, the ACLU of Nebraska filed an open records request to determine if the state's recent acquisition of drugs to be used in lethal injection was lawful.