The single drug Ohio is preparing to use for its new execution method has a storied history in psychiatry, criminal interrogation and war.
Barring a successful legal challenge, sodium pentothal will be used Tuesday on Kenneth Biros, who would become the first person in the United States put to death with a single drug.
Biros argues that it is cruel and unusual for the state to subject him to a type of human experimentation.
The deadly character of sodium pentothal is no secret. The drug is used to euthanize pets and, infrequently, to carry out legalized assisted suicides in Europe.
Ohio opted to go with a one-drug lethal injection after the Sept. 15 failed attempt of another inmate, Romell Broom. Gov. Ted Strickland stopped the execution when executioners failed to find a usable vein to deliver the traditional three-drug cocktail.
