Across the country, states are experiencing new hurdles popping up in terms of carrying out their death penalty methods and the current three-drug protocol execution. The three steps include an anesthetic to induce unconsciousness, a paralytic for sustained paralysis and a final drug to stop the heart. With a lack of ability to complete any one of these three steps, state corrections are looking for new drugs or even different methods to carry out death sentences.

One such state is Missouri, where limited access to the anesthetic Propofol has left them scrambling for new options. Drug companies have begun blocking access to their drugs to prisons in boycott of having them used in executions. According to the Independent, the gas chamber could be brought back to execute death row inmates as lethal injection supplies reach their current expiration date. Current Missouri state law still states they can still carry out the death penalty by use of gas or lethal injection.

With South Carolina in a scramble to find a replacement for their three – drug protocol, they are attempting to enforce a shield law that would keep the drugs used confidential. Current death row inmates in the state have the choice of electrocution or lethal injection. According to CNN, South Carolina has 39 inmates on death row and has not executed one since 2011. Gov. Henry McMaster stated they are at a dead stop currently. According to Rated Red, State Lawmaker Josh Putnam is looking to reintroduce a 2015 bill that looks to add firing squads as a method for execution. The governor added that studies have shown firing squads are more effective and humane. With Utah and Oklahoma being the only two states that allow for firing squads, we could see South Carolina added to that list.

With access to the needed drugs at an all-time low, the country needs new methods to bring closure to victims and their families and keep more lengthy appeals from being needed. These appeals cost the states and their taxpayers more money, and with a hold being on executions since 2011 they must take steps forward. As a supporter of the death penalty, we need to find new ways to expedite the money-draining process as the cases sit and cannot be taken to their end. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, California alone has spent $4 billion on capital punishment since the state reinstated it in 1978.

With this incredible amount being spent, one can see the downside when the state has only executed 13 criminals since. Though the state has spent massive amounts of money on death row inmates, there hasn’t been a correctional execution since 2006. California has the highest amount of inmates currently on death row, with more than 300 still waiting for assigned attorneys for their state appeals and federal habeas corpus petitions. Authorities have now forecasted that the cost of maintaining the death penalty will increase to $9 billion by 2030, as we see each year $184 million added to California’s budget for security on death row and legal registration for capital defendants.

Whatever your beliefs about capital punishment are, anyone can see the current system and course can’t be maintained. We must make a change with regards to all states and their handling of the death penalty.