From the DEA:RSX11 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:14 pm Hmmm...color me skeptical. ThIs has urban legend/hoax/misinterpretation written all over it. Snopes, in discussing a similar hoax/panic, the Green incident, points out "Neither fentanyl nor even its uber-potent cousin carfentanil (two of the most powerful opioids known to humanity) can cause clinically significant effects, let alone near-death experiences, from mere skin exposure. If Green’s story is true, it would be the first reported case of an overdose caused solely by unintentional skin contact with an opioid."
I'll be interested to hear the results of any actual chemical analysis of the flyers.
Fentanyl-related substances are designed to be absorbed into the body by all means, including injection, oral ingestion, contact with mucous membranes, inhalation, and via transdermal transmission (through the skin). As such, accidental exposure by first responders is a real danger.
From the CDC:
ROUTES OF EXPOSURE: Fentanyl can be absorbed into the body via inhalation, oral exposure or ingestion, or skin contact. It is not known whether fentanyl can be absorbed systemically through the eye. Fentanyl can be administered intravenously (IV), intramuscularly (IM), or as a skin patch (transdermally).
The problem with Snope's claim is that it doesn't take other factors in account. Does the person touching the contaminated object have a cut or wound on the hand they are touching it with? Or, if the wound is elsewhere on the body, did they then rub or scratch that area with the hand that had been exposed? Did any of the powder become airborne and, therefore inhaled, when the object was picked up? We can go all day with situations like this. And none of the tests that doctors can run will be able to prove anything more than "the individual touched an object that was laced with fentanyl/carfentanil and exhibited symptoms of an overdose".