Douglas Sacha/Getty Photographs/Second RF
Fentanyl, the lethal artificial opioid driving the nation’s excessive drug overdose charges, can be caught up in one other significant issue: misinformation.
False and deceptive narratives on social media, in information studies and even in widespread tv dramas suggesting individuals can overdose from touching fentanyl — somewhat than ingesting it — at the moment are informing public coverage and spending choices.
Some state and native governments, as an example, are investing cash from their share of the billions in opioid settlement funds in efforts to guard first responders from purported dangers described in fentanyl misinformation.
In 2022 and 2023, 19 cities, cities, and counties throughout eight states used settlement funds to buy drug detection gadgets for legislation enforcement companies, spending simply over $1 million altogether. Two mass spectrometers had been bought for not less than $136,000 for the Greeley, Colorado, police division, “to guard those that are tasked with dealing with these substances.”
However there’s additionally nearly no proof that legislation enforcement personnel are at heightened danger of unintended overdoses as a result of such exposures. Though fentanyl-related deaths have drastically risen over the previous decade, no proof suggests any of those deaths have resulted from by the way touching or inhaling it, and little to no proof that any resulted from consuming it in marijuana merchandise. Latest knowledge signifies that fentanyl-related deaths have begun to drop.
Nonetheless, there’s a regular stream of studies — which typically develop into false — of officers allegedly turning into unwell after dealing with fentanyl. However consultants say it is unlikely these episodes had been brought on by the fentanyl itself — extra possible, officers’ concern and nervousness resulted in panic assaults or related signs.
Fentanyl is current in most illicit opioids discovered on the scene of an arrest, stated Brandon del Pozo, a retired Burlington, Vermont, police chief who researches policing and public well being insurance policies and practices at Brown College. However that “does not imply it’s worthwhile to spend some huge cash on fentanyl detection for officer security.” If that spending choice is motivated by officer security issues, then it is “misspent cash,” del Pozo stated.
Overdoses are mostly brought on by ingesting the drug illicitly as a capsule or powder. And most unintended exposures happen when individuals who use medication, even those that don’t use opioids, unknowingly eat fentanyl as a result of it’s so usually used to “lower” road medication similar to heroin and cocaine.
Fentanyl misinformation is affecting coverage in different methods, too. Florida has a legislation on the books that makes it a second-degree felony to trigger an overdose or bodily harm to a primary responder by means of this sort of secondhand fentanyl publicity. Related laws has been thought-about by states similar to Tennessee and West Virginia, the latter stipulating a penalty of 15 years to life imprisonment if the publicity leads to demise.
Public well being advocates fear these legal guidelines will make individuals draw back from looking for assist for people who find themselves overdosing.
“Lots of people depart overdose scenes as a result of they do not wish to work together with police,” stated Erin Russell, a principal with Well being Administration Associates, a well being care business analysis and consulting agency. Florida does embrace a caveat in its statute that any individual “appearing in good religion” to hunt medical help for somebody they consider to be overdosing “could not” be arrested, charged, or prosecuted.
And even when public coverage is crafted to guard first responders in addition to common individuals, misinformation can undermine a program’s messaging.
Take Mississippi’s One Capsule Can Kill initiative. Led by the state legal professional basic, Lynn Fitch, the initiative goals to offer sources and schooling to Mississippi residents about fentanyl and its dangers. Whereas it promotes the supply and use of hurt discount instruments, similar to naloxone and fentanyl take a look at strips, Fitch has additionally propped up misinformation.
On the 2024 Mississippi Coalition of Bail Sureties convention, Fitch stated, “If you determine that capsule’s bought fentanyl, you higher be able to get rid of it, as a result of you may get it by means of your fingers,” primarily based on the repeatedly debunked perception that an individual can overdose by merely touching fentanyl.
Officers on the bottom, in the meantime, generally are warned to proceed with warning in offering lifesaving interventions at overdose scenes due to these alleged unintended publicity dangers. This warning is usually evidenced in a push to present first responders with masks and different private protecting gear. Fitch informed the group on the convention: “You possibly can’t simply exit and provides CPR such as you did earlier than.” Nevertheless, as with different secondhand exposures, the chance for a fentanyl overdose from making use of mouth-to-mouth is negligible, with no scientific proof to recommend it has occurred.
Her feedback underscore rising issues, usually not supported by science, that officers and first responders more and more face publicity dangers throughout overdose responses.
Her workplace didn’t reply to questions on these feedback.
Well being care consultants say they aren’t in opposition to offering first responders with protecting gear, however that fentanyl misinformation is clouding coverage and dangers delaying essential interventions similar to CPR and rescue respiratory.
“Individuals are afraid to do rescue respiratory as a result of they’re like, ‘Effectively, what if there’s fentanyl within the individual’s mouth,’ ” Russell stated. Hesitating for even a second due to fentanyl misinformation may delay a way that “is extremely essential in an overdose response.”
