CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — After another video made national headlines of a law enforcement officer experiencing some sort of emergency after fentanyl exposure, South Carolina’s medical experts want the public to understand the real risks of interactions with the drug and those that use it.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used in medical settings to treat severe pain, especially after surgery or for cancer patients. The drug is often manufactured and sold illegally due its ease of production, and its highly addictive properties and sometimes lethal potency mark it as the main driver of the overdose and addiction crisis in the United States, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Since the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office released a dramatic video of a deputy “overdosing” on fentanyl after incidental exposure in Aug. 2021, misinformation about coming into contact with the drug in its powdered form, illicit or not, has been rampant. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene even shared a story of a man who allegedly was poisoned from fentanyl sprinkled on a car door handle.
These misunderstandings of what is undoubtably an incredibly dangerous drug can cause hesitation from bystanders when encountering a person who may be in need of help out of fear, according to medical experts…