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posted by mrpg on Friday March 16 2018, @02:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the fundamental-states-of-matter dept.

Oklahoma plans to start carrying out executions with nitrogen gas, a method that has never been used in the U.S. but that some states have already approved amid difficulties with lethal injections.

At a news conference Wednesday, Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Mike Hunter and Corrections Director Joe M. Allbaugh said that over the next few months the state would develop a protocol for using nitrogen.

[...] In recent years, Oklahoma and other states have struggled to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections, the most common execution method but one that has increasingly faced scrutiny.

In 2015, a state court put a moratorium on executions in Oklahoma after a series of botched executions, including one in which an inmate convulsed for 43 minutes before dying and another in which the wrong drug was administered.

Oklahoma is poised to become the first state to use nitrogen gas in executions


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Friday March 16 2018, @03:13AM

    by sjames (2882) on Friday March 16 2018, @03:13AM (#653329) Journal

    No, a pure nitrogen environment will cause no discomfort. The person will pass right out and then die shortly after.

    A CO2 environment would be excruciating, however.

    Nitrogen narcosis is what happens to divers deeper than 30m or so and is a very different phenomenon. Also, one of the dangers of it is that the diver often doesn't realize he's impaired.

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