Arizona again tries to illegally import execution drug

The Arizona Department of Corrections paid nearly $27,000 to import from overseas an illegal drug for executions by lethal injection, but federal officials stopped the shipment at the airport.

According to heavily redacted documents obtained by The Arizona Republic, the Corrections Department contracted to purchase 1,000 vials of the anesthetic sodium thiopental. And although the seller's name and information are blacked out on the documents, an offer to sell the drug to Arizona is virtually identical to an unredacted offer sent to corrections officials in Nebraska from a pharmaceutical supplier in India.

The Nebraska shipment was also stopped by agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In June, The Republic sent a request to DOC under the Arizona Public Records Law seeking information about attempts to purchase thiopental. The request was ignored. The Republic was able to obtain the redacted documents because they were part of the legal "discovery" process in a federal lawsuit seeking transparency about executions from the Corrections Department. The Republic is party to the lawsuit.

Thiopental is the same drug that Arizona and other states were importing from England after the drug became unavailable in the U.S. In 2010, The Republic exposed how DOC was working with local U.S. Customs and Border Protection and FDA officials to bypass drug importation laws.

Thiopental is an older anesthetic that predates the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. As such, it has never been approved by the FDA for importation. It was used as the first of three drugs in lethal-injection procedures nationwide.

After The Republic reported on the imports in 2010, the British government and other European countries shut down exports of the drug. The U.S. District Court and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled that the imports were illegal, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated supplies of the drug from state corrections departments.

Subsequently, Arizona and other states switched from thiopental to the barbiturate pentobarbital for executions, until the European manufacturers of that drug also prohibited its sale for executions. Arizona then switched to a procedure using the Valium-like drug midazolam, which resulted in seriously flawed executions in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma. Midazolam was the subject of a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that narrowly allowed its use.

Thiopental is a more effective agent in execution by lethal injection, and the Arizona Department of Corrections kept it on the list of acceptable drugs in its execution protocol, even though it is no longer available in this country.

Last spring, a company called Harris Pharma, which is based in India, sent queries to several U.S. state departments of corrections, offering thiopental for sale.

Corrections officials have not confirmed that the drugs they purchased were from Harris Pharma, but the terms and wording of the offer for sale on the Arizona documents match those on unredacted documents posted on the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska's website.

According to the paperwork obtained through legal discovery, Arizona on March 9, 2015, ordered 1,000 vials of the drug at $25 per vial. That amounted to $25,000, and a freight charge of $1,700 was attached. Among the documents obtained is a receipt showing that $26,700 was wired from a State of Arizona Bank of America account.

The state Department of Corrections filled out the appropriate DEA forms anticipating the shipment. But the DEA notified Customs and the FDA of the request.

When the shipment arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport via British Airways on July 25, 2015, it was flagged by the FDA and held by Customs.

Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan sent letters to FDA officials in Maryland and DEA officials in Virginia, asking that the shipment be released, but on Aug. 24, FDA officials responded with a letter saying "FDA has determined that this shipment should not be allowed to move to destination at this time and thus will not be requesting that CBP lift its detention."

DEA also refused to yield to Arizona corrections in a letter dated July 13 saying, "According to the FDA, there is no approved application for sodium thiopental, and it is illegal to import an unapproved new drug into the United States."

It is unknown whether the money was returned to Arizona. Neither the Department of Corrections nor the owner of Harris Pharma had responded to questions as of this publication. The Arizona Attorney General's Office, the Governor's Office, the DEA and the FDA all declined comment.

There are no executions scheduled in Arizona, pending other litigation over the use of midazolam in lethal injections.