New rabbit hole: There's apparently been a full-blown panic among law enforcement and corrections officers about fentanyl exposure for the past 3 or more years. Large numbers of LEOs believe that merely touching fentanyl is fatal. There are multiple online videos of officers touching something confiscated in an arrest and then collapsing. There are reports of dozens of correctional officers being rushed to the ER after reportedly touching fentanyl soaked into envelopes in the mail room--one even died last year (summer 2024).
Meanwhile, there are MDs and substance use experts on record saying that literally cannot happen: nobody even gets a buzz from fentanyl by just touching it, let alone dying. There is now scholarly research documenting the widespread false beliefs about fentanyl in LEO circles, and at least one suggesting that all the incidents represent a "culture bound syndrome" in law enforcement; essentially a mass delusion, which triggers panic attacks and perhaps some hypnosis-like states of consciousness.
I haven't verified this point, yet, but I saw one online document alleging that in none of the alleged single-contact exposure reactions to fentanyl (or amphetamines, which are cited in many other incidents) has there ever been an investigation finding any drugs on the mail items, or finding that the officer's reaction really was from the drug they apparently touched. In almost all cases there is apparently no investigation at all, beyond interviewing the officers about their beliefs of what happened.
Anyway, these incidents are also being used by corrections and LE officers to justify #censorship and #torture of #prisoners.
https://evrimagaci.org/tpg/worker-dies-at-california-prison-amid-fentanyl-exposure-concerns-13173
