Officials: Texas running out of death-penalty drug pentobarbital

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Criminal justice officials in Texas say the supply of pentobarbital, the drug used in lethal injections, could expire next month.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said officials were "exploring all options" for an alternative when the state's remaining supply of pentobarbital expires in September and becomes unusable, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Thursday.

Prison officials said last year they had explored switching to other drugs, including propofol -- the anesthetic that contributed to pop icon Michael Jackson's death in 2009 -- if they ran out of pentobarbital.

Clark and prison officials offered few other details on Texas' latest supply woes concerning lethal-injection drugs, the American-Statesman said. The state has had to switch drugs twice in the past three years after manufacturers stopped producing them because of pressure from death penalty opponents.

Officials said two executions were scheduled in September and at least five others were set in later months.

The officials did not say when the pentobarbital supply would expire and did not comment on whether either of the September executions would be delayed.