In large enough doses, morphine depresses breathing while keeping dying patients relatively comfortable until the end. So why can’t death row prisoners use lethal amounts of morphine instead of a dodgy cocktail of drugs that become difficult to get as soon as drug companies realize what they’re being used for?
In: Chemistry
Morphine isn’t strong enough on it’s own. It would have to be used with other chemicals similar to how it is done now. There is also a high likelihood that the person might not die, even with large doses.
By comparison, heroin is about 50 times stronger than morphine, and fentanyl is about 50 times stronger than heroin, so fentanyl would be a much more effective choice.
It was used in a single execution in Nebraska back in 2018. [You can read about it here.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/08/14/nebraska-prepares-for-first-u-s-execution-using-fentanyl/)
Interestingly, it’s left to the state level government to choose the most effective chemical for lethal injections. [Here is a list of all the different chemicals that are used in each state.](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/lethal-injection/overview-of-lethal-injection-protocols)
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