30 November 2010 :

Some states that have the death penalty have asked Texas for doses of sodium thiopental, the so-called knockout drug, used as part of the three-drug cocktail in executions by lethal injection, according to Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. She would not identify the states that requested assistance. The state has declined to make its supply available even though all of its 39 available doses are set to expire in March and there are only three executions scheduled in the state before then, Lyons said. States — including Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky — have scrambled to acquire the drug. Lyons said that despite the looming expiration of Texas' extra inventory, "we do not have plans to distribute the drug to other states." "We have a responsibility to ensure we have an adequate supply of the drug on hand to carry out any executions scheduled in the state of Texas," Lyons said.