Fentanyl and carfentanil are synthetic opioids. They are many times stronger than morphine and have a well-established safety record in medical and veterinary use. When abused they can kill. These substances are dangerous in high quantities when injected or ingested my mouth or vigorous sniffing. But clinical toxicity (let alone a little high) from fleetingly touching even the purest powder forms of these compounds is simply impossible. After all, as our colleague Andrew Stolbach of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has noted, if users could get their fix by touching fentanyl, they wouldn’t bother injecting it.
When used properly, fentanyl and carfentanil are therapeutic. When they are used improperly, they can ruin lives and kill. And when touched by human hands in powder or liquid form, nothing happens.
If law enforcement, medical professionals and the public begin to harbor irrational beliefs about these drugs countless more of our fellow citizens who need emergency medical attention will die unnecessarily. A little powder on our hands is nothing compared with a whole lot of blood.
Authors: Jeremy Samuel Faust is a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston. Edward W. Boyer is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an emergency physician and a medical toxicologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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