Tag: fentanyl exposure

Unfounded Fears Linger About Accidental Exposure to Fentanyl

Lawmakers have introduced a new bill that perpetuates fears about fentanyl that many physicians consider unfounded.

Though a wealth of information has been made public about the relatively low risk presented by accidental exposure to the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, lawmakers, law enforcement and media outlets continue to issue warnings and even propose legislation to provide safeguards to prevent overdose.

A recent article in Reason cited a bill put forward by a bipartisan group of Congressmen that would allocate federal money to local police for drug screening devices that was spurred in part by concern over exposure to fentanyl.

It also quoted recent comments from a Toledo, Ohio newspaper and New York State police chief, both of which voiced concern over the alleged dangers presented by “even a minute trace of the drug.” Such fears are contrary to countless studies and testimony by medical professionals and health groups, which have stated that casual skin exposure to fentanyl presents little chance of significant harm than any other drugs.

The bill, introduced by Representatives Conor Lamb (D-PA), David Joyce (R-OH) and David Trone (D-MD), would establish a new grant program at the Department of Justice that would assist local law enforcement agencies in securing interdiction devices—portable chemical screening technology—that would help officers determine the presence of fentanyl and other drugs at a crime scene.

“This legislation will increase the safety of our officers and will streamline the substance testing process, providing real-time results to reduce the backlog in the legal system,” said Lamb in a statement.

While well-intended, the bill perpetuates fears about fentanyl that many physicians consider unfounded, according to Reason. Coverage in the New York Times noted that while fentanyl and carfentanil are dangerous opioids, the drugs must be deliberately consumed, not touched or inhaled by accident, to present a health risk.

“I would say it’s extraordinarily improbable that a first responder would be poisoned by an ultra-potent opioid,” said Dr. David Juurlink, a clinical researcher based in Toronto. “I don’t say it can’t happen. But for it to happen would require extraordinary circumstances, and those would be very hard to achieve.”

Despite testimony of that nature, fear about exposure to fentanyl continues to find its way into the public sphere. The Toledo Blade called for immediate passage of Lamb’s bill, stating “police, firefighters and other first responders are in jeopardy if they come into contact with even a minute trace of the drug.”

And in a February 2019 interview, John Anton, police chief for DeWitt, New York, said on WRVO Public Media that he feared his officers are “getting exposed to fentanyl, getting it on their clothes, bringing it home to their families, getting it on their boots and so on.”

As many medical professionals have noted, such fears are largely unfounded.

“I want to tell first responders, ‘Look, you’re safe,’” said Dr. Jeremy S. Faust, an emergency doctor at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in the New York Times coverage. “You can touch these people. You can interact with them. You can go on and do the heroic lifesaving work that you do for anyone else.”

View the original article at thefix.com

7 June 2019
California Jail Guards Get Narcan After Possible Fentanyl Exposure

This is not the first time that an officer has been hospitalized or received Narcan after being exposed to fentanyl.

Two guards at a California jail were given Narcan and taken to the hospital after they began showing symptoms of opioid exposure.

According to SF Gate, guards at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin searched a woman who was being booked in the jail. They found a black substance on the woman, but could not identify the drug. They examined it closely trying to discern what type of drug it was, while wearing gloves.

However, after the examination was complete, one officer began feeling sick and showing signs of confusion. Soon after, the other officer complained of sickness as well. The staff at the jail suspected that the pair had been exposed to an opioid, and administered Narcan before transporting them to the hospital.

First responders and law enforcement officials have been warned about the dangers of accidental fentanyl overdose, and this is not the first time that an officer has been hospitalized or received Narcan after being exposed to the drugs.

“The presence of [synthetic opioids] poses a significant threat to first responders and law enforcement personnel who may come in contact with this substance. In any situation where any fentanyl-related substance, such as carfentanil, might be present, law enforcement should carefully follow safety protocols to avoid accidental exposure,” the Drug Enforcement Administration said in an officer safety alert issued last year.

However, some research indicates that it is unlikely that first responders or others could accidentally overdose on even the most powerful synthetic opioids by touching the substance.

“I would say it’s extraordinarily improbable that a first responder would be poisoned by an ultra-potent opioid,” Dr. David Juurlink, a researcher at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, told The New York Times. “I don’t say it can’t happen. But for it to happen would require extraordinary circumstances, and those extraordinary circumstances would be very hard to achieve.”

According to Vox, reports have shown that fentanyl is not easily absorbed through the skin, so accidental overdose is very unlikely. In one video by harm reduction advocate Chad Sabora, he tries to dispel this myth.

Some people believe that the reports of first responders being harmed by exposure to synthetic opioids can trigger a type of placebo effect. That may have been the case with Scottie Wightman, a Kentucky emergency medical technician who became unresponsive after one call. Wightman was treated with Narcan and was seemingly revived, but drug tests later showed there were no drugs in his system.

Jeremy S. Faust, an emergency room doctor in Boston, emphasized that first responders shouldn’t let fear of opioid exposure deter the care they give to the public.

“I want to tell first responders, Look, you’re safe,” he said. “You can touch these people. You can interact with them. You can go on and do the heroic lifesaving work that you do for anyone else.”

View the original article at thefix.com

27 March 2019
Police Station Evacuated After Possible Fentanyl Exposure

The substance believed to be fentanyl made its way into the police station after being confiscated from a suspect at See’s Candy.

Sunnyvale, California police headquarters were evacuated this week after fentanyl sent multiple officers to the hospital.

It began with a patrol officer at the Department of Public Safety headquarters. The officer was exposed to what police were told was the deadly synthetic opioid, fentanyl, according to a police report on Thursday, reported The Sacramento Bee.

The report noted that the officer immediately felt “severe respiratory distress,” according to The San Jose Mercury News. The respiratory distress happened very quickly, according to Sunnyvale police spokesman Jim Choi.

Police officers are aware of the risk of an accidental overdose due to fentanyl exposure, now more than ever. The Drug Enforcement Administration issued an officer safety alert (that included all first responders) warning of the possibility of such an overdose, the symptoms, and how to respond. Fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more potent than another deadly drug, heroin.

Police officers can, according to some experts, have a dramatic and overdose-mimicking experience after contact with fentanyl that is essentially a placebo effect. Scottie Wightman, a Kentucky emergency medical technician, went unresponsive after one call. He was treated with naloxone, but a drug test later showed there were no drugs in his system.

As a precaution, six officers from Sunnyvale’s Department of Public Safety were hospitalized and evaluated for possible fentanyl exposure. All of the officers have since gone home and the evacuation was lifted on the evening of the incident.

However, Choi said the building was still under a “Level A” quarantine the next morning while crews processed police headquarters for hazardous materials, reported KTVU.

After the headquarters were completely evacuated, a hazmat team entered to retrieve the suspected fentanyl and “decontaminated the affected areas,” police said.

“The exposure was contained to DPS Headquarters and there is no threat to the community,” police wrote in a news release. “Police, fire and EMS services were not affected during this incident.”

The substance believed to be fentanyl made its way into the police station after an officer responded to a business called See’s Candy. A call had been made that a man was urinating in public, and police eventually arrested the suspect on two outstanding warrants in San Luis Obispo County, according to police. The suspect’s name was not released.

The suspect had a baggie that the police confiscated. The bag was filled with suspected narcotics, and the suspect reported to the police that fentanyl was part of the mix. Results are currently being procured at Santa Clara County’s crime lab, which according to Choi, is likely to take “some time.”

View the original article at thefix.com

21 February 2019
Video: Activist Pours Fentanyl On Hands To Dispel Exposure Myth

Chad Sabora performed the experiment to reassure first responders that may be reluctant to perform CPR in the early moments of an overdose.

Harm reduction experts are pushing back on what they believe is a dangerous myth circulating among emergency responders and the general public.

Illicit fentanyl and its analogues are increasingly contaminating batches of heroin sold on the street, and contributing to skyrocketing overdose rates. Thanks to naloxone, people experiencing an opioid-related overdose have a fighting chance—if first responders get to them in time.

There is a growing belief, however, that risk of exposure to these powerful synthetic opioids is so high that mere contact with an overdose victim’s sweat—or even inhaling a small amount of powder—is enough for a potentially fatal amount of the drug to get into the bloodstream.

If true, first responders fearing exposure might be reluctant to perform CPR during the critical early moments of an overdose, so Chad Sabora, Executive Director of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Advocacy (Mo Networks), decided to perform an experiment to reassure them.

Sabora, in a video he posted on Facebook, took a bag of street heroin that he confirmed through a strip test contained acetyl fentanyl and carfentanil, poured the powder in his hand and waited.

Moments later, the naloxone standing nearby stayed in its box, unused, and Sabora appeared to be exhibiting no signs of an overdose.

“[This is] the same dope that has caused ‘overdoses’ in first responders,” Sabora told The Fix. He obtained the tainted batch from one of the participants of Mo Network’s syringe exchange and naloxone distribution programs, known as a “second-tier exchange,” where an active heroin user brings sterile needles and overdose reversal kits to hand out on the street.

Sabora is the first person to attempt to deliberately overdose in order to show that the risk to first responders may be an overblown and even dangerous myth. As a former prosecutor and someone in long term recovery himself, Sabora brings a unique perspective to his work in advocacy.

“This belief is validating people that don’t want to rescue users. I used to be in law enforcement, I know it’s a very difficult job, but we have to bring balance through education and awareness while still respecting the job they’re doing,” he said.

Last spring, journalist and The Fix contributor Zachary Siegel, dedicated the entire first episode of Narcotica, a podcast he co-hosts, to dispelling the myth that fentanyl or its analogues can cause an overdose through skin absorption.

“I spent weeks researching this phenomenon for [the episode]. Every toxicologist, pharmacist, physician, and researcher I spoke with said hands down, illicit powdered fentanyl is not skin-soluble,” Siegel tweeted.

A lethal dose for fentanyl in humans is around 3 milligrams, so appropriate precautions are certainly recommended for anyone who may come in contact with the drug.

But in a position statement published in the journal Clinical Toxicology by the American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, the task force authors concluded that for inhalation exposure risk, “At the highest airborne concentration… an unprotected individual would require nearly 200 minutes of exposure to reach a dose of 100 mcg of fentanyl.”

And for dermal exposure risk, “it is very unlikely that small, unintentional skin exposures to… [fentanyl] powder would cause significant opioid toxicity…”

Sabora hopes the video will make an impact, but he admits, “there’s not much more I can do, but between myself, writers like [Siegel], and a lot of others out there, we’ll keep doing our best to hammer the truth home.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 August 2018