Misinformation about fentanyl exposure threatens to undermine overdose response
Dr. Andrea Littleton, from the nonprofit BronxWorks, center, handed out fentanyl test strips to drug users near an underpass in the Bronx, New York, in 2023. Fentanyl misinformation clouds, and even undermines, public health responses, which can then impact the direction of critical resources. Photo by Adreinne Waheed for The New York Times
National Public Radio
Fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid driving the nation's high drug overdose rates, is also caught up in another serious problem: misinformation.
False and misleading narratives on social media, in news reports and even in popular television dramas suggesting people can overdose from touching fentanyl — rather than ingesting it — are now informing public policy and spending decisions.
Some state and local governments, for instance, are investing money from their share of the billions in opioid settlement funds in efforts to protect first responders from purported risks described in fentanyl misinformation.
In 2022 and 2023, 19 cities, towns, and counties across eight states used settlement funds to purchase drug detection devices for law enforcement agencies, spending just over $1 million altogether. Two mass spectrometers were purchased for at least $136,000 for the Greeley, Colorado, police department, "to protect those who are tasked with handling those substances."
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