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    Opinion: ‘Passive’ fentanyl exposure: more myth than reality

    Hyperbolic warnings and burdensome recommendations for avoiding passive exposure to fentanyl may interfere with the ability of first responders and others to do their jobs.
    by Lewis S. Nelson and Jeanmarie Perrone Dec 21, 2018 4 minutes
    The shadow of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is cast on a photograph of heroin and fentanyl during a news conference in March in Washington. Graham was introducing legislation that would increase the punishment for fentanyl distribution and trafficking.

    The news reports are alarming: Merely being in a room or in close contact with fentanyl, an increasingly popular opioid narcotic, can poison you, they say.

    Perhaps the best known report of passive casualties from fentanyl is a 2017 news account that went viral. In it, an East Liverpool, Ohio, police officer brushed a white powder off his uniform, lost consciousness within an hour, and awakened after being given a dose of naloxone, a drug that quickly reverses the effects of opioids. The police chief ordered his officers to stop field testing for fentanyl or other opioids that they find while on duty.

    Reports of fentanyl-related passive toxicity has led to the release of and burdensome recommendations by Drug Enforcement Administration, including the use

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