https://healthandjusticejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40352-021-00163-5
One of the biggest myths among police officers is that touching and/or inhaling small amounts of fentanyl will lead to an over dose or even death. This is false and police are being re-educated about the effects of fentanyl. In fact, “it would take 200 minutes of inhaling fentanyl at the highest airborne concentrations to yield a therapeutic dose”, as stated in the article. To test first responders knowledge of fentanyl they were asked to answer this statement, “First responders who encounter fentanyl are at great risk of overdose by touching it or inhaling it”, about 80% agreed while 20% disagreed. This shows that even most first responders have false beliefs of fentanyl. The stigma of absorption through the skin started when nicotine patches became popular. Many believed fentanyl would also be able to absorb through the skin, yet it has been proven to not have such absorption qualities. This showed that fentanyl had more similar qualities to tobacco than to nicotine. This article states that because of these stigmas, there has been large amounts of time wasted in calls about drugs. Time that was used to take unnecessary precautions. This also leads to quicker burn out, due to mass amounts on unneeded stress while on duty. This article shows the misinformation around fentanyl and how it is important to do thorough research before encountering something one is unfamiliar with.
