The Great Fentanyl Freakout

Fentanyl, we all know fentanyl. The highly potent synthetic opioid.

You can't even look at fentanyl without even dropping dead of overdose.

Perhaps you've seen the stories. Cops insta-overdosing from incidental contact with someone who has used fentanyl. Perhaps a story like this:

Quote:

While searching a vehicle where suspected #fentanyl was found, 3 deputies became dizzy, deployed Narcan on themselves & were taken to the hospital. They are doing well. If you question the dangers of fentanyl, this is how deputies must suit up to handle it. Thanks, @OCFireRescue !

https://twitter.com/OrangeCoSheriff/...82143468044296

Cops in class B hazmat suits (supplied air respirators, fully taped up chemical resistant suit) to clean up fentanyl crime scenes.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/lo..._content=wkmg6

only one small problem, it's all total BS. Fentanyl is indeed potent, but it doesn't jump across the room to OD people.

Fentanyl isn't airborne. It doesn't readily pass through the skin.

Quote:

But overdosing "from transdermal and airborne exposure to Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl (IMF) is a near scientific impossibility," according to the Harm Reduction Coalition. In other words, fentanyl can't jump through air or the skin to suddenly kill you. The drug can be administered through skin patches, but these patches require moisture and work over a long period of time. Similarly, someone would have to stand near an industrial-sized concentration of fentanyl for more than two and a half hours to feel the effects of the drug through airborne exposure. The difficulty of overdosing by touching fentanyl didn't stop law enforcement—including the federal Drug Enforcement Administration—from warning the public that fentanyl could be "absorbed through the skin." Meanwhile, many alleged "overdoses" by first responders seemed to be caused by panic—and the more they happened, the more panic they spread. One state trooper was responding to an overdose in Sussex County, Delaware when he was suddenly struck by "an accelerated heart rate and light headedness," which turned into "a tingling sensation in his legs," according to an October 2018 bulletin by the Delaware Information & Analysis Center, the state's fusion center. Rapid heartbeat and dizziness are symptoms of anxiety—not opioid overdose—but the Delaware trooper was rushed to the hospital and "treated" with naloxone.

https://reason.com/2020/09/01/the-fe...reakout-worse/

Cops across this country, and credulous news agencies, are endlessly repeating these fantastical myths about the danger of fentanyl.

Medical workers are baffled by the popularity of these myths. They have been working with the highly potent drugs for a long time now, and while it must be treated with caution, it's not the airborne insta-death that the local news would have you believe.

Quote:

Common sense also invalidates the possibility of casual exposure to fentanyl resulting in overdose. People who use, sell and transport drugs often come into environmental contact with fentanyl without incident. The authors of this op-ed provide services in the Bay Area; we interact with people at syringe exchange programs and encampments where fentanyl is present, in some cases touch samples of fentanyl the drug ourselves – all without incident. Fentanyl has been used by the medical system for treatment of pain and anesthesia since 1968. There are some formulations of fentanyl that are specifically designed for transdermal absorption (patches), yet there is technology involved in changing the drug to be absorbed this way, and even handling transdermal patches does not cause overdose. The fentanyl in the illicit drug supply comes in powder or solid form, and must have direct contact with mucous membranes or the bloodstream via snorting (inhalation), smoking, or injection to take effect. Yes, even carfentanil. IMF is handled with bare skin throughout much of its travels to the end user, and by the end users themselves, causing no adverse reaction until the drug is ingested via the above-mentioned routes—and even then, fentanyl and fentanyl analogs are used routinely and do not always result in overdose. More recently, there has been some media refuting the veracity of these stories, including The Fix, Slate, and EMS1.com, a website targeting first responders who each published myth-busting pieces about casual fentanyl exposure. The New York Times published an opinion piece about fentanyl hysteria by Drs. Jeremy Samuel Faust and Edward Boyer, both instructors at Harvard Medical School and emergency physicians and medical toxicologists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. A recent paper in the Journal of Prehospital Emergency Care clarifies proper procedure for first responders who may be exposed to fentanyl and other ultra-potent opioids. Media accounts that are not based in evidence and journalists who fail to do their due diligence to ensure accurate reporting further perpetuate this dangerous misinformation. These stories cause very real harm—they perpetuate fear and stigma against people who use drugs resulting in negligent care, isolation, and diversion of resources toward law enforcement and away from life-saving programs.

https://harmreduction.org/blog/fentanyl-exposure/

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/QxzOejR