Why is potassium chloride not banned for sale despite its lethal injection use?

Why is potassium chloride not banned for sale despite its lethal injection use?
Potassium chloride is not a controlled substance because oral ingestion poses virtually no lethal risk—it tastes salty like table salt, and reaching a harmful dose would be impossibly unpalatable. The fatal route requires rapid intravenous injection, which demands medical skill, proper equipment, and patient cooperation, making it impractical for criminal misuse. Moreover, banning KCl would be futile since any water-soluble potassium salt, even extracted from wood ash, can deliver lethal potassium ions. Regulatory focus remains on medical supervision of IV potassium, where concentration limits (≤0.3%) and slow infusion rates are strictly enforced to prevent cardiac arrest. The compound's dual role as an essential fertilizer and clinical electrolyte makes blanket prohibition neither feasible nor necessary.