$86.08

With all the talk about the U.S. reaching the landmark number of 1000 executions since capital punishment resumed in 1977, I began thinking about some things mostly morbid. There are five methods of capital punishment in the U.S. and those are

1. Death by electrocution
2. Death by firing squad
3. Death by hanging
4. Death by lethal gas
5. Death by lethal injection

I looked into death by lethal injection because this is the form of capital punishment used by the state I live in. According to their website three different drugs are used to kill the offender. Sodium Thiopental is injected into the saline I.V. which sedates the person and renders them unconscious. Then Pancuronium Bromide, a muscle relaxant, is injected which collapses the diaphragm and lungs and prevents breathing. Finally Potassium Chloride is injected which stops the beating heart. Usually the offender is pronounced dead about 7 minutes after the lethal injection begins. The cost for the drugs used to kill the offender is $86.08.

Such a small price to pay.