Capital punishment in the United States
Then, in 2011, Hospira, the only American company that made sodium thiopental, stopped making the drug.  The European Union makes other anesthetics, like propofol.  However, since the European Union is against the death penalty, they made it illegal to export any product that could be used in an execution.  Another anesthetic, pentobarbital, is also only made in the European Union, and the company that makes it has put limits on selling it to U.S. government customers.  A few states have tried mixtures of other drugs, but those executions have not gone well.