The California attorney general's office says a shortage of a drug used for lethal injections will temporarily halt state executions after Sept. 30.
The attorney general's spokeswoman, Christine Gasparac, says corrections officials notified her office that the state has been unable to secure more supplies of the drug, sodium thiopental. It's the anesthetic that renders the condemned inmate unconscious before lethal drugs are injected.
Gasparac told The Associated Press on Monday that the attorney general will recommend that future executions not be scheduled until the drug supply is available.
The drug's manufacturer, Hospira, has blamed the shortage on "raw-material supplier issues" since last spring. The company is promising availability in early 2011.
