Update - no Fentanyl - flyers posted on HCSO vehicles

[Scott B.]

This is straight out of your aol/facebook/crazy aunt spam mail, but is [not] true.

https://www.click2houston.com/news/harr ... icials-say

A Harris County sergeant received treatment Tuesday after touching a flyer laced with fentanyl, according to officials.

Investigators said the flyers were found about 1 p.m. on the windshield of about 12 vehicles parked on the street at the department’s 601 Lockwood Drive facility.

The flyers's content is right smack in the conspiracy whackjob arena.

UPDATE: Tests came back - no fentanyl.

[RSX11]

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.

[03Lightningrocks]

Same here. It would be pretty unusual for that to happen by transfer from a piece of paper. Maybe he put the paper in his mouth somehow.

[WTR]

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.

I am confused. My good friend was given fentayal skin patches for pain relief when he was in home hospice due to cancer. We were warned the he could over dose if we misapplied the patches.

[03Lightningrocks]

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.

I am confused. My good friend was given fentayal skin patches for pain relief when he was in home hospice due to cancer. We were warned the he could over dose if we misapplied the patches.

Those are jell patches. The concentration of fent on those far exceeds anything one could get from simply grabbing a piece of paper.

[RottenApple]

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.

From the DEA:
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".

[03Lightningrocks]

Some of that is hyperbole designed to scare the crap out of people. But yes, fent can be absorbed through the skin in the right circumstances. I noticed she did not suffer any serious affects. The point I was making was that it is not a huge threat unless one was to do as you say and transfer it to other body parts that are scratched and such.

She was not an overdose according to the article. Some light headedness and the ability to drive to hospital means not an OD. An OD drops you right on the spot and breathing stops.

It is still pretty sick and twisted that someone would do this to anyone, cop or otherwise.

[Scott B.]

I know LE is treating potential exposure pretty seriously these days. Pretty much like a HAZMAT incident. My recent first aid update included a whole module on opioids that was brand new.

See DEA's briefing on Fentanyl.

https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/Fentanyl_B ... ne2017.pdf

[OlBill]

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.

I am confused. My good friend was given fentayal skin patches for pain relief when he was in home hospice due to cancer. We were warned the he could over dose if we misapplied the patches.

Those are jell patches. The concentration of fent on those far exceeds anything one could get from simply grabbing a piece of paper.

Probably with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as a chemical permeability enhancer.

[RSX11]

"Probably with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as a chemical permeability enhancer.}

OK, now I know you're an old fart....people haven't worried about DMSO based drug transmission since the 60s. I'll stand on my initial diagnosis...we'll either hear that there was no drugs on on the flyers, or we'll hear nothing since police agencies hate to admit they were wrong...
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[OlBill]

"Probably with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as a chemical permeability enhancer.}

OK, now I know you're an old fart....people haven't worried about DMSO based drug transmission since the 60s. I'll stand on my initial diagnosis...we'll either hear that there was no drugs on on the flyers, or we'll hear nothing since police agencies hate to admit they were wrong...
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It is very commonly used in criminal activities in Latin America, where I lived for 20 years. But you're probably right, it couldn't happen here. After all, that's there.

[03Lightningrocks]

I would bet in the quantities the DEA is dealing with there is substantial risk. I know I would not be toting around a barrel of that stuff without protection.

The issue I have here is the very low probability of serious exposure like this unless one ate the paper. Her exposure was pretty minuscule if all that happened was a happy moment and some realization she had been drugged.

Maybe she stuck the flyer in her pocket and her body heat helped to absorb it. With so little info it is hard to know the real story.

[RSX11]

"See DEA's briefing on Fentanyl."

Using the DEA for information on drugs of abuse is like using the ATF for information on firearms.

[RSX11]

"It is still pretty sick and twisted that someone would do this to anyone, cop or otherwise."

We are reptty durned fra from concluing that anyone did "this" to anyone....

[ScottDLS]

"Probably with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as a chemical permeability enhancer.}

OK, now I know you're an old fart....people haven't worried about DMSO based drug transmission since the 60s. I'll stand on my initial diagnosis...we'll either hear that there was no drugs on on the flyers, or we'll hear nothing since police agencies hate to admit they were wrong...
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It is very commonly used in criminal activities in Latin America, where I lived for 20 years. But you're probably right, it couldn't happen here. After all, that's there.

Yeah man, they have some groovy acid down there in Medellin, along with the major “snow storms” coming from the jungles.