A sheriff's office posted a warning about fentanyl. It spread misinformation instead, experts say.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/10/police-touching-fentanyl/

The dramatic video of a San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy collapsing after processing fentanyl at a crime scene was released to serve as a public service announcement: a warning about the synthetic opioid that is projected to kill 700 people in the area by year’s end, and about the lifesaving potential of quickly administering naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication.

Instead, the sheriff’s department was met with swift backlash, notably from medical experts who said its claim that the deputy nearly died of an overdose caused by touching the drug was scientifically implausible and promoted dangerous misinformation about an epidemic that has intensified during the coronavirus pandemic.

For harm-reduction advocates, many of whom are medical professionals, the video is another instance of law enforcement pushing a false narrative about the risks of incidental fentanyl exposure that is in turn amplified by bad reporting in the news media and wide distribution across social media.

(snip)

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department now faces questions over its credibility five days since it released video of the July 3 incident. Sheriff Bill Gore told the San Diego Union-Tribune on Monday that he was “shocked” at the pushback from medical experts, and he denied peddling misinformation.

[Maru Kitteh]

1. I've handled thousands of Fent patches and never seen anything like that.

Ever. It didn't seem plausible to me.

[brush]

3. So the deputy must have had a medical emergency other than...

the fentanyl?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. Or simply a panic attack with syncope.

[BigmanPigman]

2. San Diego sheriffs are Proud Boy lovers.

This is no surprise. The sheriff's office has supported tRump for 4 years and I have seen it first hand at several of the anti-tRump protests I attended. They do NOTHING to help people. They do everything to support the fucking moron's agenda to this day.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. If the officer was a DEA agent in a prolonged raid at laboratory facility producing pure fentanyl

With bullets flying around and such ... that would be a potentially hazardous situation in terms of incidental contact with the drug.

But short of that?

No. Because 'street drugs' containing fentanyl of the sort that the vast majority of officers are likely to come into contact with are diluted like 200-1000X from pure fentanyl, which creates an entirely different, and almost infinitely less hazardous situation.

Its like comparing handling a bottle of pure Rx-grade nicotine with handling loose cigarettes.

This dipshit sheriff didn't do his research, clearly.

[Ligyron]

5. Carfentanyl is the one that's dangerous to touch.

I think as I’m no vet but believe it’s used for large animal anesthesia. Like rhinos and such.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Kick