Thread by @BuzzFeedNews

Every year, police officers claim to have suffered near-fatal overdoses after accidentally touching fentanyl.

Experts say it’s medically implausible and the hype around this perceived threat is harming overdose victims, taxpayers, and first responders.

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Accidental overdose by skin exposure “is chemically and physically implausible,” said Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and addiction medicine specialist.

Fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin, but only under unique circumstances.

Patches are used therapeutically by medical professionals, which may have contributed to the belief that instantaneous absorption and overdose are possible.

Despite this, people who use fentanyl are facing serious legal repercussions — such as charges of assault or endangerment of officers — for supposedly causing these impossible overdoses.

“People should not be in jail for imaginary crimes,” Marino said.
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And though there’s been recent accidental overdose myth-busting, law enforcement officials continue to go to great, very expensive lengths to avoid this “risk,” and people continue to face incarceration for supposedly causing these accidental overdoses.

In Sept. 2021, officials in Greene County, Tennessee, charged Tommy Starnes with two felony counts of reckless endangerment after a deputy and EMS worker both experienced “symptoms of an overdose” after treating him.

However, the first responders were originally called for an overdose. They were there to save Starnes’ life.

buzzfeednews.com/article/lindse…

Starnes, who also faces felony charges of possession, remains in jail awaiting an arraignment this month.
buzzfeednews.com/article/lindse…