Of course, the only certain way of establishing whether significant degradation has taken place is by carrying out a chemical assay on the product. For drugs that are hard to obtain and difficult to replace with fresh samples, an assay makes a lot of sense. A detailed discussion on the testing of the purity and potency of Nembutal is given in a later Chapter.
Conclusion
This Chapter details some of the most important issues that should be considered by a person planning to use drugs to achieve a peaceful, reliable and dignified death.
Specific issues such as: drug preparation, administration, formulation, speed of action, resuscitation, and shelf-life apply to all drugs used to end life. An understanding of these issues will reduce any chance of failure. This Chapter should be read in conjunction with the following Chapters that detail the use of particular drugs.
