Why are states like Alabama, which is planning to use nitrogen gas, exploring new execution methods?

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Alabama execution Thursday that would be the first to use nitrogen gas is the result of a long history of problems with lethal injections since Texas first used the method in 1982, including difficulties finding usable veins and obtaining the necessary drugs. Numerous other states that use lethal injection have encountered various problems with the execution method, including difficulty finding usable veins, needles becoming disengaged or problems sourcing or using the lethal chemicals. It’s just sort of this continuing theme of pushing to get executions no matter the cost involved, and that did propel this change to nitrogen gas.” In Oklahoma in 2014, condemned inmate Clayton Lockett writhed, clenched his teeth and attempted to lift himself up from the gurney after he had been declared unconscious when the state used a new drug, the sedative midazolam, in its three-drug method. Before Oklahoma secured a source of the sedative midazolam in 2020 for its three-drug lethal injection method, the state was planning to resume executions using nitrogen gas after the prisons director said he was being forced to deal with “seedy individuals” who may have had access to them.