From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

Today, an extraordinary plan to rush a series of executions on Arkansas's death row,

the story of a controversial drug at the heart of the plan, and a race against the clock.

Eight men, ten days. It's Wednesday, March 15.

Near Grady, Arkansas, along the Arkansas River, sits the Varner unit.

The high security prison is where the state keeps its inmates who are waiting to die.

So you've got eight men in Arkansas who have been on death row in some cases for decades.

Alan Blinder is a reporter for the Times based in the South.

These are men who were convicted of some of the most heinous crimes that a state can never see.

And now, after years of waiting, these eight men are scheduled to die.

It is a pace of execution that researchers say is unprecedented in the modern history of the death penalty in the United States.

All eight over ten days. Among them, there was a man named Don Davis, who actually this month marked the 25th anniversary of being sentenced to death.

My name is Deborah Falling and I'm the lawyer for Don Davis.

What's his state of mind right now?

Well, in general, like everybody there, and I've seen some of the other people as well, I mean, everything is very tense and very...

Everything is real subdued, even with the guards, you can tell that it's a big moment and everybody is apprehensive and worried.

You know, these people have been on death row for a long time and I don't really understand why we're in such a rush.

They were going to do this assembly line execution just because of an expiration date on a drug.

It all comes down to a drug called Medazalam.

How to give your child Medazalam?

So Medazalam is one of the most popular drugs that you will find in any hospital setting. It is very popular sedative.

It is sprayed into the nose using a syringe and atomizer.

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