# Execution by Morphine Overdose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373 "2010-03-22T19:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/21 "2010-03-23T19:59:11Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > …high dose of a barbituate…giant dose of a barbituate…high dose of barbituates… Just wanted to clarify that notwithstanding a popular pun that has helped perpetuate the mispronunciation, the word is barbitu **r** ate. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/22 "2010-03-23T20:37:12Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > A cocktail covering sensorium, paralysis and shutting down the heart rapidly is defintely the best choice in my non-expert opinion. The problem with the paralytics is that they don’t really make anything better for the person being killed; just easier on those watching. > [@Ranchoth](#): > > [Nitrogen asphyxiation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_asphyxiation) is the other old standby in discussions like this. Fast, painless, and environmentally friendly. Yes, I came across that one, too, and I thought about bringing it up here. But this wasn’t intended to be a discussion of all potential methods, just the feasibility of morphine. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Just wanted to clarify that notwithstanding a popular pun that has helped perpetuate the mispronunciation, the word is barbitu **r** ate. :cues “The More You Know” rainbow and jingle: ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/23 "2010-03-23T20:55:32Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > [Nitrogen asphyxiation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_asphyxiation) is the other old standby in discussions like this. Fast, painless, and environmentally friendly. And doesn’t need a doctor, since you can easily do it with a standard gas chamber like contraption. Also: I can’t speak for fatal doses obviously, but Nitrogen is really a fairly pleasant - if slightly disorienting - experience. As an aside, who does the injections (in states that do injections) right now then? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/24 "2010-03-23T21:24:55Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > As an aside, who does the injections (in states that do injections) right now then? There doesn’t appear to be any set standard for the teams that perform the executions. “As [Jay] Chapman, its [lethal injection’s] progenitor, told me: ‘It never occurred to me when we set this up that we’d have complete idiots administering the drugs.’” [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/magazine/11injection.t.html?\_r=1](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/magazine/11injection.t.html?_r=1) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/25 "2010-03-23T22:05:05Z")
Sounds like an easy way to go…I was given morphine once (for kidney stone pains). It was like being very drowsy, and wanting to sleep…pleasant, actually. Of course, this reminded me of an old Three Stooges line: "Gentlemen-how would you like to die?- “burned at the stake or head chopped off?” Curley: “I’ll take burned at the stake” Moe: “why?” Curley :“a hot stake is better than a cold chop” :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/26 "2010-03-24T03:58:36Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > And doesn’t need a doctor, since you can easily do it with a standard gas chamber like contraption. Also: I can’t speak for fatal doses obviously, but Nitrogen is really a fairly pleasant - if slightly disorienting - experience. > > As an aside, who does the injections (in states that do injections) right now then? Typically EMT’s or phlebotomists. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/27 "2010-03-24T14:12:58Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Sounds like an easy way to go..I was given morphine once (for kidney stone pains). It was like being very drowsy, and wanting to sleep..pleasant, actually. I’d assume that the reaction with a lethal dose might be quite different. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/28 "2010-03-24T14:28:45Z")
Are the lethal dose reactions for other drugs _related_ to morphine—such as heroin, or straight opium—any “prettier” than morphine itself? Again, of course, legal obstacles would probably get in the way; to the point where dropping a 16-ton anvil on the condemned’s head would be easier to push through the legislature. Also faster and more humane, though that’s a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/29 "2010-03-24T14:30:38Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Morphine is a prescription medication that needs a doctor to administer. Doctors don’t really go in for the whole killing people thing. The drugs they use now are also controlled aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373/30 "2010-03-24T14:44:18Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > The drugs they use now are also controlled aren’t they? Sodium thiopental is, but it’s a schedule III drug rather than a schedule II drug like morphine and not regulated as strictly. Pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride are uncontrolled drugs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-morphine-overdose/533373.md?page=1)