Message from Connecticut State Sen. Saud Anwar Satate Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden

In January 2025, Connecticut lawmakers introduced a bill to prohibit Connecticut companies from manufacturing or selling any drugs or medical devices intended for use in executions. The proposal followed reports that the Connecticut-based company Absolute Standards had produced lethal injection drugs used in federal executions in 2020.

Below is a message to the #BizVsDP community — written in 2024 — from Sen. Anwar and Rep. Elliot, two of the bill’s sponsors:

“Public support for capital punishment in the United States is at an all-time low — and with states increasingly turning to untested methods to carry out executions, all eyes are on the continued use of this cruel and unusual practice.

While Connecticut is one of 23 states that have abolished the death penalty, we still have a critical role to play in stopping executions across the country.  

So does the business community. Business leaders have a responsibility to ensure their products are not used in the machinery of death.

In May 2024, we called on Absolute Standards, a Connecticut-based company that supplies pentobarbital, to end the sale of its product for use in lethal injections. In 2025, we plan to introduce legislation that would prevent any Connecticut-based corporation from supplying drugs or other tools for executions. No one should profit from death-dealing.  

Over the years we have seen the success that pharmaceutical corporations, gas suppliers, medical equipment manufacturers, and other businesses have had in slowing executions by refusing to support them in any way.

We have also seen the power corporate leaders can yield when raising their voices against systems of injustice. It is more essential than ever that the business community join together and rally against one of the most heinous systems still existing in our country.

We commend the Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty campaign and your collective commitment to this important issue.”

Read More

Connecticut lawmakers propose ban on sale, manufacture of lethal injection drugs (CT Insider)

Connecticut May Have Figured Out a Way to Halt Executions in Texas (Slate)