Barbiturates. The introduction of thiopental in 1934 revolutionized the practice of anesthesia by making it possible to induce general anesthesia in seconds, avoiding a slow, often unpleasant, more dangerous induction with diethyl ether. Today, thiopental and other barbiturate sedative-hypnotics that were imported from overseas are no longer available as these companies have ceased exporting barbiturates to the United States in order to protest their use as a part of the lethal injection “cocktail” for capital punishment.