UK Business Secretary - Stop exporting execution drugs to US or face legal action

The UK's Business Secretary Vince Cable has been given an ultimatum by legal action charity Reprieve - ban the export of execution drugs to the US within 72 hours, or face legal action.

The charity's director yesterday wrote to Cable giving him until close of business on December 30th to stop British firms from exporting the drugs sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride to the United States, where they are all used as part of the lethal injection process. Reprieve argued that it was a breach of European Human Rights Law and Britain's opposition to the death penalty for the government to have allowed the export of the drugs.

The charity has successfully brought one legal action against the government over its failure to prevent the export of sodium thiopental. A shipment of the British manufactured drug has already been used in at least one execution already - Jeffrey Landrigan in Arizona.

Despite being forced to ban the export of the chemical, Cable's delayed response allowed a large shipment to be despatched to California before the ban came into effect. It has been estimated that this shipment contained enough of the drug to execute at least 80 death row inmates in the US. It has yet to be released by the US Food and Drug Administration, and Reprieve believe an intervention from Cable could prevent the shipment reaching its destination.

Reprieve's director, Clice Stafford Smith noted that Cable apparently devoted 20 hours to rehearshing his foxtrot for the TV show Strictly Come Dancing, but has yet to devote the half hour of his time which would help to prevent scores of executions. He also pointed out that "the Foreign Office is struggling to help us prevent the execution of British nationals in the US, at the same time as Mr Cable sits on his hands and allows the export of British drugs that will kill those same prisoners."

America's shortage of drugs used to legally murder people is apparently bringing out the worse in a lot of people. Mr. Stafford Smith said one British firm had marked the price of the drugs up 3,500 per cent to capitalize on the demand for death drugs. In a country which opposes the death penalty, some people are making money from helping to carry out executions.

Although, to be fair, if a state is so desperate to legally murder the population of its death row that they're willing to pay 3,500 per cent more than they would normally pay for the drugs to do it, they probably deserve to be ripped off. I think they deserve to be ripped off and then have the drugs taken off them too. That'd show 'em. Why isn't this much money and effort going into crime prevention, or better education schemes?