Casual Contact With Fentanyl Cannot Cause Overdose
The Claim
A police deputy overdosed on Fentanyl after only being in close contact with the drug.
News posted on
Emerging story
On August 5th, the San Diego Police Department published a video to their Instagram site that corresponded with an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune. The article, headlined, “Deputy overdoses after coming into contact with fentanyl,” began to spread across social media. Users commented that the video showed “the dangers of fentanyl,” and that “more people need to be made aware.”
Misbar’s Analysis
The deputy could not have overdosed from fentanyl in the manner portrayed in the video. Fentanyl is distributed as a tablet that dissolves underneath the tongue, or a film that dissolves between your gum and cheek. It is extremely unlikely that someone could overdose on the drug without ingesting it.
As the article states, the deputy allegedly began having an issue after placing some white powder on a drug testing kit. The deputy did not ingest the drug. Ryan Merino, a doctor specializing in toxicology, clarified the likelihood of the deputy receiving a dose of fentanyl in this fashion, stating that 1. Fentanyl is essentially not absorbed through the skin and 2. Fentanyl powder in the air would only be an issue in extreme settings.
After their initial report, the San Diego Union-Tribune added a paragraph to their original story. It explains that reports that the deputy overdosed on fentanyl were provided by the Sheriff's Department, and were not a diagnosis from a medical professional.
In response to the popularity of the video and the misinformation it provides, over 400 medical professionals signed a petition to try and stop the spread of the footage. “We are writing to request a retraction and correction of your recent article which perpetuates a myth: that casual contact with potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl poses a health risk to first responders.”
Drug overdoses are a very serious concern in the United States, and fentanyl has caused a drastic increase in deaths. The petition emphasizes that misinformation of this kind is harmful because it “exacerbates stigmatization of people who need support in the midst of a public health crisis.”
