Reading Room Document

Whether the Food and Drug Administration Has Jurisdiction over Articles Intended for Use in Lawful Executions

Articles intended for use in executions carried out by a State or the federal government cannot be regulated as "drugs" or "devices" under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Food and Drug Administration therefore lacks jurisdiction to regulate articles intended for that use. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/file/1162686/download.

May 3, 2019