General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Fentanyl is real and what you hear is true! [View all]Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)I mean I suppose there could be some toxic contaminant but then we're not talking about Fentanyl itself anymore, are we?
There was a specific instance/context I was speaking to here in this thread, that was someone in US Law Enforcement processing a suspect's belongings (presumably as evidence). And specifically the case where the dangerous exposure happened through absorption through the skin.
Your argument is broadening this specific scenario I was speaking about to ALL scenarios, when I did not mean it that way. YES there are absolutely all kinds OTHER ways of incidental exposure that could be dangerous, esp. working in an underground fentanyl lab for example. Or a DEA bust in a Fentanyl lab that goes down in a way that resembles an action movie.
I was specifically referring to the claim that because it's rec'd that Rx fentanyl patch wrappers are kept away from children because the residue therein could absorbed through a child's skin ... that proves that fentanyl can be absorbed through skin. It CAN, but only via certain substrates does it happen with any semblance of proficiency.
When fentanyl is recovered in the scenario actually described upthread (cop going through suspect belongings, not a hostile situation) there a whole bunch of reasons why it's very unlikely the cop is going to get exposed to a dangerous dose.
Reasons:
1) They're likely to wear gloves
2) If not, they're likely to wash up if they suddenly find some unknown powder on their skin while going through belongings. No matter what, fentanyl absorbs slowly.
3) The average cop isn't likely keeping their hands freshly moisturized with a chemical that conveniently makes for a good substrate to transfer Fentanyl across the skin.
4) They're VASTLY more likely to be dealing with street-level product, i.e. pressed pills or 'heroin', not a leaking package of 90% fentanyl. Street products are diluting the fentanyl to make the product resemble what street users are accustomed to. Of course there's dosing mistakes made but they're along the lines of making the pill be .2% fentanyl instead of .1% fentanyl (spit-balling there, but you get the gist). You're no more likely to OD handling some pressed M-30's with fentanyl than you would be handling a real 30mg Oxycodone. Which is to say ... it's extremely unlikely.
5) If a suspect was walking around with 90% pure fentanyl, chances are the cops already know s/he's closely tied to a manufacturing operation, so they're likely to be more careful processing his/her belongings.
As we know, probability of an event is a multiplication of the probability of subevents leading up to it, like P*P*P*P*P in the above case. You multiply all those probabilities 1-5 (where nothing went as I outlined) and you end up with an extremely uncommon/unlikely sequence of events.
I was referring to a specific scenario and argument being made, not EVERY possible case in the ENTIRE world.
Fair enough?