Though Attorney General Greg Abbotts decision on Thursday to keep Texas pentobarbital sources

secret came to me as no surprise, Im more than disappointed in our states blatant disregard for transparency
and assurance of abstinence from cruel and unusual punishment.
Abbotts Office argued-with the help of a threat assessment produced by the Texas Department of
Public Safety- that the release of the purification protocol and source of the lethal injection drug would put the
responsible pharmaceutical companies at risk of a substantial threat of physical harm. Abbott stated that
threats like those made to the Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy after the companys identification as the
former supplier of lethal injection drugs would put other declassified pharmacies at risk. He failed to mention
any specific threats.
Im sorry, but last time I checked, botching an execution counted as a substantial threat of physical
harm. If the Texas Department of Public Safety is willing to prevent further threats of violence (which,
according to a DPS spokesperson, are not even under investigation) to pharmacies, why arent they concerned
with proving to the public that the lethal injection drug is pure and reputable?
Since the nearly unanimous decision of European suppliers like Lundbeck, Inc. to refuse to sell
pentobarbital to correctional facilities in the United States, the supply of the countrys most ubiquitous and
favored lethal injection drug has been running low. Texas kills more people than any other state and relies solely
on this drug. Many correctional facilities have turned to compounding pharmacies, like the Woodlands
Compounding Pharmacy, which are under FDA regulation that is virtually nonexistent in comparison to that of
former, conventional suppliers like Lundbeck, Inc. I fear that because there is high demand for death and a low
supply of legally produced execution drugs, the State of Texas is buying from either shady pharmacies with low
purity standards or middlemen illegally selling European produced pentobarbital. Abbotts refusal to disclose
any information simply draws more probability to this conclusion.
Secrecy regarding something as final as state execution should never be taken lightly, particularly in
Texas- 6 of the 12 exonerated inmates in the state since 1973 where executed before their innocence was
proven.
The State of Missouri, which uses the exact same method of injection as the State of Texas, also refuses
to disclose its source of pentobarbital. 5 news organizations challenged Missouris shroud of secrecy by filing a
lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections in early May. The lawsuit has yet to play out, but it has
surely thrown a wrench into the cogs of Missouris policy of refusing to acknowledge and assess the possibility
of cruel and unusual punishment in its death chambers.
Unless the Office of the Attorney General is prepared to face scrutiny through lawsuits and potential
Supreme Court cases, I strongly suggest that Greg Abbott proves his claims of integrity by revealing Texas
suppliers of pentobarbital. If Abbotts Office is truly reputable and has nothing to hide, then there is nothing to
lose by avoiding the strenuous and potentially scandalous processes of courts and appeals that are already
underway in Missouri. I believe that we will have this information declassified at some point: its just a matter
of whether or not Greg Abbott decides to waste time by defending his fallacious policy against inevitable
lawsuits.
I urge Greg Abbott to yield but doubt that my plea is worth his time. Though expensive and wasteful,
the net sum of the inevitable legal process-even if against Abbott himself, and not his Office- will still result in
Abbott making money. One of Greg Abbotts top gubernatorial campaign contributors is J. Richard Ray, owner
of a compounding pharmacy by the name of Richies Specialty Pharmacy. His contributions to the campaign as
of January 23, 2014 come out to be about $350,000, more than enough to make up the cost for a veteran
Supreme Court attorney.