I can’t recall the last time an action by the government of Italy affected one of my bills.

              The regulations for state executions, now under review by the legislature, require that sodium thiopental be used.  The lone American manufacturer of this drug has stopped manufacturing it, according to Saturday’s New York Times. 

            The company has an Italian plant, but the authorities there will not permit shipment of the drug if it is to be used to carry out a death penalty.

             After reading about this, I did what I often do.  I asked the Attorney General’s Office to do some research:  “Does the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services have this drug on hand and, if so, what is the expiration date for the drug?” 

             I wasn’t the only person making such an inquiry.  Late this afternoon, John Wagner of the Washington Post wrote that “any supply still on hand in Maryland — which last executed a prisoner in 2005 — has since expired, according to a corrections department spokesperson.”

            However this issue is resolved, I said to myself when I finished the Times story, it demonstrates yet again that the days of the death penalty are numbered.