Both Nevada and Nebraska are pushing to be the first states in the nation to use fentanyl for criminal executions, drawing pushback from death penalty opponents and some physicians, according to a report from The Washington Post.
Here are five things to know.
1. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. The substance has been a major contributor to the rising rates of opioid-related deaths across the country in recent years. More than 50 percent of people who died of opioid overdoses in 10 states tested positive for fentanyl in the second half of 2016.
2. The push for fentanyl-assisted suicide comes as states are struggling to obtain drugs long used for lethal injection. Pharmaceutical companies are refusing to supply these drugs for the purpose of execution. The situation has spurred some states to implement new methods of execution and others to resurrect methods from bygone eras. For example, Florida, Ohio and Oklahoma have turned to novel drug combinations to carry out executions, while some states have passed laws sanctioning firing squads (Utah) or the electric chair (Tennessee) as backup options when lethal injection isn't available, according to the Post.
3. Supporters of capital punishment blame opponents for the current situation, as support for the death penalty has waned in recent years, according to Pew research data cited by the The Pew data suggests support for the death penalty among the public hit a 40-year low in 2016.
"If death penalty opponents were really concerned about inmates' pain, they would help reopen the supply," said Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, an advocacy group for crime victims. "[Opponents] caused the problem we're in now by forcing pharmaceuticals to cut off the supply to these drugs. That's why states are turning to less-than-optimal choices."
4. Physicians opposed to fentanyl-assisted executions say the substance could result in botched executions. Nevada's planned execution for an inmate originally set for November called for the injection of diazepam (Valium), fentanyl and the drug cisatracurium, which would paralyze the muscles.
"If the first two drugs don't work as planned, or if they are administered incorrectly, which has already happened in so many cases … you would be awake and conscious, desperate to breathe and terrified but unable to move at all," Mark Heath, MD, a professor of anesthesiology at Columbia University, told the Post. "It would be an agonizing way to die, but the people witnessing wouldn't know anything had gone wrong because you wouldn't be able to move."
5. A judge postponed the Nevada execution last month over concerns about the paralytic element of the drug mixture. The case is awaiting review by Nevada's Supreme Court.
To read the Post's article, click here.
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