DEA Seizes Georgia Execution Drug

ATLANTA - The Drug Enforcement Administration on seized Georgia’s supply of a key lethal injection drug Tuesday, less than two months after the state executed a man who unsuccessfully bought from another country.

In January, before death row inmate Emmanuel Hammond was executed, his attoey argued that prison systems in some states were buying lethal injection drugs at high prices from other countries that may have substandard regulations. One of the drugs at issue was sodium thiopental.

"That is the drug that is in short supply in the United States," said Attoey Gerry Weber back in January.

Weber sent a letter to the attoey general about the conces and Tuesday moing in Jackson, DEA agents seized the supply of the execution drug because of questions about how it was brought into the U.S.

The drug was taken out of the Georgia diagnostic and classification prison. DEA agents said the case is an ongoing regulatory matter and would not say any more.

"The doctor asked the DEA for assistance after a letter was sent to attoey general in D.C. a few weeks ago, questioning the department's drug supply. And we are working with the DEA to see if we are in compliance for the way we handle controlled substances," said Kristen Stancil, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections.