Nebraska's Attempts To Get Lethal Injection Drugs - A GIF History

The ACLU of Nebraska has dug through hundreds of pages of records about Nebraska's attempts to obtain lethal injection drugs.

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There are currently no U.S. manufacturers of a specific drug Nebraska and other states use for lethal injection. In 2012, a federal court ruled that even drugs for lethal injection need to follow federal import law. Because there is no federally approved foreign source for the drug, it cannot be imported.

Nebraska has been trying and failing to carry out an execution since the phrase "as if" was cool. In May, the Nebraska Legislature replaced the death penalty with life in prison. Yet Nebraska is still trying.

Federal authorities are having none of it.

On May 28, 2015, U.S. DHHS sent a letter reminding Nebraska it is illegal to import the drug.

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DHHS to Nebraska:

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The letter is a follow-up to a phone conversation. We can only image in the phone conversation went something like:

A few weeks later, Nebraska received an email from the Department of Justice letting them know the the drug cannot be imported.

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Here. We'll translate that for you.

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At this point, the State of Nebraska must feel a little like:

After being rejected at least three times directly, the State of Nebraska kept trying. If it wasn't for the huge waste of taxpayer dollars, it would almost be endearing. Almost.

Oh look. Another rejection. This time from the DEA sent on July 13.

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The collective face of the U.S. Government to the State of Nebraska right now:

Better Priorities

The taxpayer dollars being spent on a failed effort to carry out executions could be better spent on supporting murder victims' families, solving crimes or putting non-violent offenders on a path to rehabilitation.

The ACLU of Nebraska on Thursday asked the U.S. Attorney to open an investigation into Nebraska's ongoing attempts to obtain illegal drugs from shady foreign sources that barely have a working address.