Panic attacks, as anyone who’s had them can attest, are very real and deserving of medical attention. Encouraging panic attacks, however, is… not the best use of our limited time on this planet:
Cop husband gave her a panic attack, case closed https://t.co/eTD1OBHlo4
— Goku Missile Crisis (@BabadookNukem) July 12, 2022
Seriously, if you need to refute this new panic, here’s a great story:
I wrote about fentanyl-touch panic among police officers, and a toxicologist who spilled a bunch of fentanyl on his hand. https://t.co/GqBudEnZRK
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) July 5, 2022
… Today’s astonishing overdose death toll comes not from gang violence or turf wars but from a ubiquitous market of cheap and potent synthetic drugs. And so it is in the drugs themselves that police officers now see grave danger, including to themselves. Last year, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department produced and released its own public-safety video featuring what Sheriff Bill Gore described as “traumatic body-worn camera footage” of an officer’s life-threatening fentanyl exposure — footage that circulated through various media outlets despite the skepticism of health professionals. It’s as though each of these videos seeks to identify the new villain, the shocking peril, in an era whose drug-war battlefields are too diffuse and mundane to capture the public imagination. Images of cinematic urban war zones and Uzi-toting gangsters have been replaced by the knowledge that drug use gangsters have been replaced by the knowledge that drug use quietly pervades communities of all sorts. So fear attaches to something equally slippery: fentanyl particles lurking in the air, or even just a few specks on a police uniform, blamed for one officer’s “overdose” in Ohio. (According to local reporting, the officer was eventually terminated from the force for, among other reasons, “gross misconduct.”)
These viral “exposure” videos have a way of inverting reality. The people with whom the police interact every day, the civilians and communities they are sworn to protect, are often people whose main crime is that they are struggling with addiction — which is to say that they, not the officers prodding at the contents of their pockets, are the ones in the most danger. There’s concern that these videos will only worsen that danger, not just by making people so terrified of invisible fentanyl traces that they hesitate to aid drug users experiencing overdoses, but also by driving the use of criminal charges to punish people for exposing police officers or emergency responders to drugs…
War For Ukraine Day 142: Ukraine Strikes Another Ammo Dump Behind Russian Lines, Russia Continues To Strike Any Non-Military Target It Can In Ukraine
ChicagoPat
The pharmaceutical industry worked hard to craft a fentanyl transdermal patch *because it’s otherwise so poorly absorbed through the skin*. Also, if you’re self-administering Narcan, you by definition don’t need Narcan. (I’m an ED physician)
Ja
The fentanyl “panic” up here in Vancouver, is that much of the street drugs, are cut with it, in varying amounts, often fatal, and often not the addicts, but instead first time users, explorers.
Here, Narcan kits are available for free, I carry 3 in my backpack first aid kit.
sab
Jeez. I am beyomd gratefu that fentanyl scared my stepson away from drugs. None of his friends survived. I don’t have high school friends because we moved so much. He as no high school friends because they all died of overdoses.
sab
@sab: Not entirely true. His couple of non-druggy friends are still there and still good friends.
prostratedragon
Tony Soprano syndrome.
sab
My stepson in logistics makes same as a cop. He and his dad think he is amazing.
Don’t have the heart to tell him ” No , you’re average.”
mrmoshpotato
Not tonight, Satan. Good night.
TriassicSands-
Oh, nonsense, Pat. I’ve known many people who died from just being in the same city with fentanyl. Of course, this is 2022, so cause and effect have been “cancelled!”
The amount of misinformation circulating about opioids is distressing.
Joey Maloney
OK, so the twitter embed code just makes a huge mess. Let’s do it this way instead:
https://twitter.com/jelenawoehr/status/1537994538895044611
MattF
Derek Lowe (a medicinal chemist) on fentanyl exposure.
Lapassionara
@TriassicSands-: Ditto this. My frustration is with the idea that an opioid is so potent that a person is “hooked” after just one dose. Many people have taken opioids for a short period of time for acute pain, without becoming addicted.
JWR
O/T but good! From NBC.com
Something tells me Thursday night’s hearing is gonna be lit! Hmm. I wonder if I can convince a very close, Foxaholic relative to watch? (As a rule, we don’t talk politics at all. Ever, even!) But it’s worth a try.
raven
@JWR: O/T in an open thread?
Baud
Wish they took covid as seriously.
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OMG I think the blog is laced with fentanyl. I feel ill.
Chris T.
Opiates are funny.
I’ve been on several for various medical, um, “thingies” over the years. I don’t like Vicodin because it makes my head feel stuffed with cotton and causes constipation. Codeine and hydrocodone were less obnoxious. Haven’t had morphine but did have Dilaudid once I think (I was in a lot of pain and don’t remember some of the details other than having to wait several hours before they did the X-rays for the broken bones; the pain meds had to wait for after X-rays). (Pro-tip: don’t get hit by a car. It messes you up pretty good.)
I never got addicted to any of them, but I see how it could happen. They don’t actually stop the pain (though the codeine did control the whooping cough), they just make it so that you don’t exactly care about the pain any more.
I think some people are just more likely to become physically dependent on these things than others…
raven
@Chris T.: When I had back surgery last year I had to stay flat on my back for 24 hrs. It was pretty uncomfortable and I got two hits of morphine and they did zip!
Geminid
@Chris T.: Medical cannabis may be a good substitute for opioids. I read of a study showing opioid overdoses are lower in states that allow medical cannabis. Some people can’t tolerate the psychoactive effects of THC but CBD strains can be helpful.
A friend follows the NFL fairly closely. She tells me that the league has lightened up considerably on cannabis testing and penalties for use. They are taking a more pragmatic view of pain management. My friend has lupus and considers moderate use of cannabis to be helpful in managing the disease.
A particular strain of cannabis, “Charlotte’s Web,” was shown to be effective in treating a severe form of childhood epilepsy. On the strength of parents’ testimony the Virginia General Assembly legalized it’s medical use years before it moved to liberalize cannabis laws last year. I’m hoping that treatments for other neurological illnesses will be discovered now that cannabis researchers have more latitude.
JWR
@raven: Yeah, I know, but most of the comments are actually ON topic, so I thought I’d give a warning.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: I got two doses of fentanyl when I was in the ER with my arm. I didn’t die. Also didn’t do shit for the pain, but that’s another story.
Geminid
azcentral.com reports on a new group backing Senator Mark Kelly, “Republicans for Kelly.” It is not as broadly based as a similar group in Pennsylvania, “Republicans for Shapiro,” but it includes five current and thirteen former mayors and legislators. The Mayor of Mesa, population 500,000, is among them, as well as a former U.S. Attorney appointed by the younger Bush, and some Arizona business leaders.
When voting rolls were closed a month before the 2020 election, Arizona party registrations were 35% Republican, 32% Democrat, and 31.7% Unaffiliated. The last two numbers made some news because this was the first time in quite a while that Democratic registrations exceeded Unaffiliated.
Marmot
An ex-friend of mine who spread dumb cancel culture lies (mistaking anecdotes for trends, naturally) was also concerned about the potential of kids absorbing thc through their skin. He’s generally science-ignorant but doesn’t know it.
When they don’t understand things, they invent magical powers for them.
Baud
@Marmot:
And thus religion was born.
Barbara
@Chris T.: It’s like the difference between encountering a tiger in the wild and behind a tall enclosure at a zoo. Same animal, different reaction. It’s weird.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Chris T.: I had the same experience, I was given Vicodin after surgery and had to stop after the second dose because it made my skin crawl, after my knee surgery I was given hydrocodone, that Did help with the pain the first week or so but the constipation made it not worth it so I switched to over the counter meds.
Argiope
Oh, wow, this happened in my town about 2 years ago. Guy was nodding in a car in the Walmart parking lot and some Karen called the cops, who when arriving on scene smelled an unusual odor and apparently dropped like flies. All 3 of them, sequentially. It was fentanyl, or so they believed, and before you knew it the lawn outside the local ER was covered in a white hazmat tent and the volunteer county hazmat unit was getting some practice by assembling and putting on all their fancy hazmat shit, and news helicopters were flying overhead (the ER is a block from my house, which you would think might be convenient but not THIS ER). It was a hot mess. I said at the time, I’m pretty sure this can’t actually happen from smelling fentanyl. Now it can be told.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Geminid: I wish there was more actual, well documented studies on cannabis. I do think different strains could have good uses for a variety of conditions.
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
Where’s Scully and Mulder when you need them
prostratedragon
Fainting goats are a species native to North America. When something startles them —and from the video it doesn’t have to be much— their muscles seize up.
marklar
My suggestion for officers and others who “do their own research” on the absorption of fentanyl is to tell them that risk of accidental fentanyl poisoning greatly diminishes when they wear N95 or similar masks while indoors or when they can’t social distance.
bbleh
I’m gonna guess that many of the most serious cases also involve the nearby presence of a non-White person (or more than one!!) and are more likely to occur “on the streets” or “in the city” than in nice leafy suburbs or tranquil rural communities.
Next up: can fentanyl be “supercharged” by (((Jewish space lasers)))??!
kalakal
In super smart animal news a crow invents crowboarding
https://youtu.be/PBlxNkyrMJs
Rob
@prostratedragon: Fainting goats are a breed of regular domestic goats, not a separate species.
leeleeFL
WT ACTUAL F? These ppl are soooo ridiculous, I have no f-cks to give for their bs.
On a different note, How GREAT would it be if the lowered testosterone/sperm count that so upsets F-ucker Carlson turned out to be Nature’s answer to fewer abortions AND fewer conservative white assholes? Does the FSM love us that much?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Rob
I was given hydrocodone after I fell while running fast and punctured three ribs. The constipation was, yeah, um. After a couple of days in the hospital, the pain had subsided but was still there. I persuaded the doctor that I didn’t need hydrocodone, that prescription-strength ibuprofen would work just fine for me. And that was that.
Keith P
I get fentanyl all the time when I’m having vascular procedures done. It’s great when a pro is administering it in a surgical setting – it is just one or two clicks when pain is too much and kicks in instantly.
Recreational use is a deathwish though
Ken
Maybe that’s the explanation, a disease interaction. If someone has Morgellons, all those little fibers sticking out of their skin just wick the fentanyl right into their brains.
Doug R
@sab: Here in Calgary, a friend of a friend, my wife’s niece’s husband and a dear friend’s adult child all dead of suspected ODs.
Wapiti
@Rob: I had a prescription for large dose ibuprofen (600mg) for a pain that recurred maybe a couple of times a year. The doc noted that I could just use 3 x 200mg over the counter tablets instead of filling the prescription.
Matt McIrvin
@Lapassionara: My impression is it depends a lot on the person–many opioid addicts started out with a legit pain prescription. I’ve taken them myself, oxycodone seems almost magic for serious pain, but I’ve always been really wary, maybe to excess.
Matt McIrvin
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Vicodin works but makes me feel indescribably odd in an unpleasant way. Oxycodone just works. For me, it does just take the pain away. I didn’t take it enough to really have constipation problems.
different-church-lady
They should come up with a fentanyl vaccine so that police officers can refuse to take it.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: The person I know who uses cannabis for pain management says opioids don’t work on him at all, period. Apparently this is the case for some people.
RepubAnon
@Baud: A friend of mine thought that touching a coin that had drug residue on it could get one addicted because “metal is a conductor.” I explained that only works for hypodermic needles.
Chris T.
@RepubAnon:
So is the guy at the front of the train.
Geminid
@Doug R:
@Matt McIrvin: I think that cannabis use can have it’s downsides especially for young people. But you cannot die from an overdose of it. Cannabis could have value for people trying to quit opioids or meth. It’s a different high but it might be a substitute for addicts who are afraid to quit cold turkey.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: Yeah, cannabis ODs just seem to make you really paranoid for a while, but you can ride it out.
Matt McIrvin
The sobering thing is that these people who are having fainting panic attacks because they were near fentanyl are the same people who carry guns in a professional capacity and have been taught to immediately kill anyone who they believe to be a threat to life and limb.
Matt McIrvin
@bbleh: A cloud of airborne fentanyl can make perps turn into the Incredible Hulk without warning! It gives them partial bulletproofness so you have to put extra bullets in them!
AndoChronic
Had one patient in adult rehab at our big university hospital who enjoyed fentanyl “OD parties.” It is what it sounds like. Everyone sits around with a bunch of Narcan to hit others when they fall out. I asked if he was chasing the OD rather than the high and he said yes. I only heard about that once. However, most opiod pts who enter our rehab have stopped seeking other opioids, including heroin, and are only interested in fentanyl due to its comparative low price and potency.
Steve Finlay
I almost never comment – not enough time in the day. In this case, it’s something I actually know about. I managed Canada’s second federally authorized supervised drug injection site for three years. We had 200 to 300 visits a day, which means that my staff were in close proximity to someone using an illegal street drug on at least 200,000 occasions over those three years. We reversed around 2000 overdoses, with no deaths.
The most commonly used drug was “down”, which meant opioids. At first, a few people were still lucky enough to have actual heroin. Sometimes it would be Kadian or hydromorphone. But the vast majority was and is fentanyl. Concentration varied widely. After we got the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer on site and started testing, we saw concentrations ranging from 1% or 2% (most common) to 20% (rare).
Not one staff member ever suffered an overdose, or any ill effects, from touching drugs.
Smoking drugs was not allowed in the site, because it takes a very high powered ventilation system to prevent the place from turning into a nasty kind of hot box. We didn’t have that. On two occasions, staff suffered dizziness and impairment when a user who was smoking their drug, and was told to stop, deliberately blew smoke in the staff member’s face.
If you find yourself in an actual drug lab, and if there is a pile of pure fentanyl powder lying out in the open, it may be possible to disturb the air enough to get enough of it airborne that you could breathe it and feel an effect. I would certainly wear a mask if I were in that situation. But I can guarantee, on the basis of far more direct experience than these officers will have in their lives, that touching or being around ordinary street fentanyl won’t give you an OD.
A major reason for the panic is profit. There are some companies whose business is selling protective equipment, protective clothing, and very sophisticated cleaning machines for dealing with dangerous contaminants. They advertise aggressively, especially on social media, to scare police into believing that ALL police forces need to buy lots of their products because deadly fentanyl is everywhere.
ChicagoPat
@TriassicSands-: I’ve been watching the *prescription* opioid crisis slowly unfurl over the last 20 years, as physician and nurse compensation has been linked to patient satisfaction, which, with opiate addiction tracks point for point with how much opiates they are prescribed. Once the crisis became impossible to ignore, the pendulum is now trying to seeing all the way in the other direction, and I’m constantly having to tell my residents that it’s okay to give morphine to someone in agony from a kidney stone, etc. It’s like the concept of letting physicians use their judgement in appropriately prescribing these meds is a novel concept.
JaneE
If police officers are afraid of fentanyl, they should be carrying extra Narcan. In some places it is standard to have it available to deal with drug overdoses. Last year they made it available to anyone getting a prescription for opiates, to have on hand in case of accidental overdose. It is a waste of money in most cases, but probably more effective than the previous measures to deal with the opioid epidemic. Some of that did more harm than good.
Bill Arnold
@ChicagoPat:
Much of it is basically Anslinger/Reefer Madness style disinformation, targeted at first responders.
Can touch this: training to correct police officer beliefs about overdose from incidental contact with fentanyl (24 November 2021)
The article is about training to counteract this misinformation:
Rob
@Wapiti: I think I did that for a couple of days after my one-time only prescription was done, probably at my doctor’s suggestion.