OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska will not immediately turn over to federal authorities its supply of a drug used during lethal injections.
Instead, the Nebraska Attorney General’s office is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to appeal a federal judge’s recent ruling that the drug, sodium thiopental, was wrongly allowed into the U.S. That judge also ordered the FDA to notify any state with foreign-manufactured thiopental that its use is prohibited and that it must be turned over to the FDA.
Earlier this month, the FDA sent a letter to Nebraska authorities requesting the state’s supply of sodium thiopental.
The Nebraska Attorney General’s office sent a response Friday to the FDA saying “we are unaware of any evidence or reasons why” the state should turn over its supply of the drug.