A federal civil complaint in Texas claims the defendants may have falsified prescriptions , lied to pharmacies and perhaps even broken the law , but they 're not drug runners . They 're officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice , responsible for executing death row inmates . The complaint , filed in October , is one example of the lengths death-penalty states are willing to go to acquire drugs for lethal injections . Texas , which declined to comment on the pending case , is among 32 death-penalty states scrambling to find new drug protocols after European-based manufacturers banned U.S. prisons from using their drugs in executions -- among them , Danish-based Lundbeck , which manufactures pentobarbital . `` The states are scrambling to find the drugs , '' says Richard Dieter , executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center . `` They want to carry out these executions that they have scheduled , but they do n't have the drugs and they 're changing and trying new procedures never used before in the history of executions . '' States have been forced to try new drug combinations or go to loosely regulated compounding pharmacies that manufacturer variations of the drugs banned by the larger companies . The suit against Texas alleges the state corrections department falsified a prescription for pentobarbital , including the patient name as `` James Jones , '' the warden of the Huntsville Unit `` where executions take place , '' according to court documents . Additionally , the drugs were to be sent to `` Huntsville Unit Hospital , '' which , the documents say , `` has not existed since 1983 . '' The suit said the pharmacy was unaware of the purpose for the order and when it found out it canceled the order before it was filled . In a letter obtained by CNN , dated October 4 of this year , Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy , which was requested to provide drugs to Texas officials says it believed its `` information would be kept on the 'down low ' '' by the TDCJ . '' The plaintiffs also allege the state did not produce a purchase order , instead using an individual employee 's credit card to make the purchase . The pharmacy is asking the TDCJ to return the drugs it sold the state . It is unclear whether they have . Maurie Levin , one of the attorneys representing the inmates , said , `` We believe that TDCJ 's purchase of compounded pentobarbital from Woodlands Pharmacy violates numerous state laws . The vast majority of compounded drugs can only be mixed or sold pursuant to a doctor 's prescription . TDCJ did not get a prescription for its purchase of compounded drugs . There are exceptions to the requirement , but TDCJ 's purchase does not qualify for any of them . '' In September , Texas even turned to another state , Virginia , for a supply of Nembutal , according to documents provided to CNN by Berkeley Law staff attorney Jen Moreno . Death row inmates say using untested drugs is `` cruel and unusual punishment , '' and several have filed federal lawsuits to delay executions until drug protocols have been reviewed . Ohio was set to execute Ron Phillips on Thursday using a two-drug cocktail never before used in an execution . Ohio 's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said it `` was unable to obtain a sufficient quantity of pentobarbital . '' Instead it was set to use the sedative midazolam and pain-killer hydromorphone in a lethal dosage . Ohio Gov . John Kasich stayed Phillips ' execution this week pending a review of possible organ donation to his family members . Missouri was set to use propofol , the infamous drug from the Michael Jackson case , in an execution last month , but the governor halted it after he was warned the European Union might halt shipments of the drug , leading to shortages for medical purposes . Deborah Denno , a law professor at Fordham University , said a new combination of drugs used in the execution of Florida inmate William Happ last month took 14 minutes to kill him instead of the usual seven . `` There is absolute chaos among the states , '' Denno said . `` So , every few months it seems we see a different state using a different type of drug , or types of drugs . '' Jim Petro , the Republican former attorney general of Ohio , presided over 19 executions but no longer supports the death penalty . `` An attorney general is bound to follow the statute , '' he said . `` Duty is duty . '' Dieter said using untested drugs amounts to experimentation on human beings : `` They 're guilty people who did these crimes , but that does n't ameliorate our ethical obligations . ''
Civil suit claims Texas falsified prescriptions to acquire drugs for lethal injections . The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which is representing two inmates who are challenging a state law that allows doctors and pharmacists to prescribe execution drugs. Several lawsuits call use of untested drugs `` cruel and unusual punishment ''