In January 2025, a group of 12 experts in public health and drug safety, including a former commissioner and principal deputy commissioner of the FDA, filed an amicus brief to express their deep concern about the significant public safety risks that Arizona has created by relying on pentobarbital to conduct executions.
“Because there is no safe or legal way to obtain pentobarbital, the State has procured illicit raw ingredients, mixed by an unregulated compounding pharmacy, in violation of state and federal drug laws. This is done clandestinely, under the State’s broad interpretation of execution secrecy. These acts injure public safety by supporting illicit drug supply chains that increase the chance of lethal drugs reaching the public.“
The Arizona Republic covered the brief’s arguments in detail.
In January 2023, Governor Katie Hobbs ordered an independent review of the state’s method of execution, effectively pausing executions in Arizona in a bid to foster improved transparency, accountability, and safety over the execution process. She appointed a retired federal judge but, in November 2024, Governor Hobbs fired the judge as he was finalizing his report, ended the review, and claimed the state was ready to resume executions. In interviews, the judge has denounced serious concerns with the chain of custody for the state’s lethal injection drugs and a lack of transparency.