Simplify SC execution method

The state of South Carolina and its Department of Corrections are unable to do their duty of carrying out executions mandated by legally imposed death sentences because our legislators have created an overly complicated method of execution that is dependent on chemicals that are becoming harder to get due to the death penalty opponents hectoring the suppliers. The solution is simple: Switch to a method of ending the lives of those condemned that doesn’t depend on expensive chemicals.

Organizations supporting assisted suicide and “death with dignity” often advocate using the inert gas nitrogen, pumped into headgear or mask. It is odorless and tasteless, which prevents panic of the dying individual, and it is painless, merely inducing unconsciousness prior to rapid cessations of heart and brain functions, inducing death. No medical attendant is needed to administer an intravenous connection of the condemned to a liquid-chemical-dispensing apparatus. Nitrogen can be easily obtained without medical prescriptions. No costly execution chamber is needed, reducing the cost to the state to carry out our laws.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 7:17 PM with the headline "Simplify SC execution method."