Myth That Casual Fentanyl Contact Is Deadly Refuses to Die

For nearly a decade, a persistent myth has influenced public perception and news coverage of the opioid overdose crisis: the idea that you can get sick or even die from simply touching or being near fentanyl. But there is no strong evidence for this claim, and plenty to argue against it.

Scroll through fentanyl-related headlines, particularly those involving law enforcement, and you’ll see a pattern emerge soon enough: first responders, police officers, or bystanders experiencing a variety of symptoms soon after being exposed to some amount of fentanyl.

An idea that won’t go away

These sorts of stories, along with the specific claim from some law enforcement officials that “fentanyl can kill you just by touching it,” seem to have first spread widely around 2016. The idea picked up further legitimacy that year after the Drug Enforcement Agency released a video, as well as an accompanying press release, warning about the dangers of fentanyl exposure via the skin (both may have been temporarily taken down, but updated versions are still up today).

Media outlets do now seem less likely to uncritically parrot the idea that casual exposure to fentanyl can be deadly than they did five years ago, when Gizmodo first covered this issue. Individual public health agencies and other groups have also begun to more openly counter the belief. But the myth remains alive and strong among some law enforcement agencies and even lawmakers, with at least three states—Florida, West Virginia, Tennessee—currently weighing bills that would allow prosecutors to press felony charges against people accused of exposing first responders to fentanyl and similar opioids.

‘Extreme low risk’ to first responders

It’s understandable why people might be afraid of getting close to fentanyl. It and other synthetic opioids like carfentanil are indeed more potent than naturally derived opioids like heroin or morphine. So the risk of a fatal overdose from typical consumption is more likely. Over the past decade, the greater availability and use (often unintentional) of illicit fentanyl has driven a large surge in deaths, with 2023 being the third straight year of over 100,000 documented fatal overdoses in the United States.

But based on what we know about these drugs, there just doesn’t appear to be a grave danger from simply touching or being around fentanyl. Even in its powdered form, the drug isn’t absorbed quickly through the skin, according to expert toxicologists. Medical fentanyl can be delivered via dermal patch, but these doses are slowly absorbed over hours to days.

In 2017, the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) and American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT) released a joint position statement to counter the burgeoning spread of fentanyl-related misinformation. Based on their assessment of the available evidence, the groups concluded that the “risk of clinically significant exposure to emergency responders is extremely low.”

There are some potential scenarios in which fentanyl could be dangerous to passersby. If someone touched fentanyl powder, then tried to wash it off with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, for instance, the alcohol actually could increase the skin’s ability to absorb the drug. Accidental introduction of fentanyl into the mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth, such as by touching it and then touching one’s eyes, could potentially cause enough exposure to result in illness. And it’s theoretically possible for enough fentanyl powder to become aerosolized and pose a danger just by breathing in the same area. However, this would require unusual circumstances, such as being in a very windy room with a significant amount of fentanyl present.

Smart precautions

The ACMT, AACT, and other groups have created pragmatic guidelines for first responders who come across fentanyl to further minimize their risk. These include wearing a pair of disposable non-latex gloves for low risk situations and donning a mask for higher risk environments, along with advising people to only use soap and water to wash off any fentanyl that ends on skin.

None of this is to say that law enforcement officers and others exposed to fentanyl aren’t experiencing symptoms as a result. But many symptoms commonly reported during these accounts, such as a racing heartbeat, dizziness, or feeling sweaty, don’t match those of a typical opioid overdose, which include slowed breathing, blue skin, and shrunken pupils. So at least some of the time, these cases are more likely to be a manifestation of (understandable) anxiety or fear than fentanyl-related.

Despite growing skepticism from media and health agencies, the myth that casual fentanyl exposure is deadly persists among some law enforcement and lawmakers, with several states considering related felony charges. But it’s a solution in search of a problem that doesn’t really exist. And this myth only distracts from the actual dangers of fentanyl, while taking time and energy from the efforts needed to curtail America’s very real overdose crisis.

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