Ignorance is bliss—especially when it comes to lethal injections. Since 2004, lethal injection has been the primary method of execution for death row inmates. At the time they claimed it was more humane than the electric chair, but they did not realize how horrific it actually is. Lethal injection is actually an extremely cruel and unusual way to go. First, it causes immense pain and suffering for the inmate. Second, it is performed and developed by amateurs, who know little about what they are doing. Supporters of lethal injection claim that the inmates deserve the pain, but this idea goes against both the U.S. Constitution and the idea of execution. The lethal injection debate is one of ignorance versus facts.

The facts are quite simple: lethal injection is not the quick and painless death that it is advertised to be. The first drug administered in a lethal injection is Midazolam, which is a sedative, not an anesthetic. One inmate’s attorney who witnessed his client dying in severe pain said, “I think the Midazolam worked exactly as the Midazolam is supposed to work—which is that it doesn’t work: it doesn’t prevent Mr. Johnson from feeling pain.” This means it relaxes the patient rather than preventing them from feeling pain. The second drug is a paralytic, which leaves the inmate unable to move, despite still being awake. If the first drug does not knock them out, the second will cause the patient to lose all control of their body. They are unable to breathe, and they lack any way to signal their pain. The third and final drug has been described as feeling as if fire is being poured into your veins. It has been said to feel like you are being burned alive from the inside. Judge Alex Kozinski claims that it would be more humane to have a firing squad than to administer a lethal injection.

Now if being burned inside out does not sound like the most horrific thing in the world, remember that this procedure is not being administered by doctors. Due to ethical implications, no physician can be involved in the procedure. This means that amateurs are administering the drug, which has caused extreme mishaps with the procedure. These amateurs are regular people without any medical experience. For Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma it took 43 minutes, and the administrators botched the job by injecting Lockett in multiple places, including his groin. They also failed to inject his veins each time. The making of the drug is also supported and developed by amateurs. The creator of the procedure was the Oklahoma state Medical Examiner Jay Chaplain—who is not a doctor. The man many states use to justify the drug is Dr. Roswell Evans, who has a pharmacy doctorate, not a medical degree. In interviews about the drug, he stated that he has never done any research with the drug, and in a case brought to the Supreme Court, he used printouts from a website called drugs.com, which contains a disclaimer: “This information is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.”

Supporters claim that the inmates deserve the torture for their crimes. But are executions about revenge? I would argue that we do not want to become like the killer himself. The pain and suffering inflicted by lethal injection is akin to torture, and it is a cruel and unusual punishment that should be banned in the U.S.