Deborah Denno was quoted in an article on ScienceLine about states having to find other execution methods in light of the problems they are facing in geeting effective, reliable lethal injection drugs.
The dosage of drugs used for the death penalty is also arbitrary, according to Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York City. And since medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies refuse to be associated with the process, there are no controlled trials, analysis or peer-reviewed literature to guide how much of a drug prison officials need to administer to death row inmates. And if the drugs are contaminated by tiny particles — as drugs manufactured by compounding pharmacies often are — they can burn and scrape the insides of veins like sandpaper, instead of having an anesthetic effect.
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But states are free to choose any alternative execution method as long as it complies with the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment,” according to Denno, of Fordham University in New York.