JUST A TOUCH CAN BE DEADLY
Ohio cop’s scare shows peril of handling fentanyl for officers in Chicago
An Ohio police officer recently overdosed after coming into contact with traces of fentanyl on his uniform, highlighting the danger the drug poses to law enforcement officials who’ve been combatting sales of the deadly opioid in Chicago.
In recent years, Chicago gangs have added fentanyl to the heroin they sell in open- air drug markets. The potent concoction is attractive to addicts but leads to overdoses when too much fentanyl is in the mix. In October 2015, 74 people were sent to hospitals after overdosing on fentanyl- spiked heroin on the West Side.
The U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Chicago Police and FBI are among the agencies ramping up investigations of dealers who sell fentanyl here. This month, one drug crew was charged in federal court in Chicago with trying to sell 5 kilograms of the deadly opioid, which is considered 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
But as law- enforcement officers work to bust drug dealers and seize their fentanyl, they’ve become increasingly wary about coming into contact with that drug and others, including an elephant tranquilizer carfentanil, which is considered about 10,000 times more potent than morphine.
On May 12, an East Liverpool, Ohio, officer accidentally overdosed when he touched powder on his shirt without realizing it was fentanyl. He was wearing gloves and a mask as he searched a car, which is the policy of his department. But he later unwittingly touched his shirt when another officer noticed powder on it.
“I knew something was wrong,” the officer, Chris Green, told reporters. “I was in panic mode. I started falling backwards to the door.”
Green lost consciousness but recovered after he was treated with Narcan, an overdose reversal drug. He returned to work four days later.
Fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin — and tiny amounts can kill adults, authorities say. That’s led at least one FBI squad in the Chicago area to stop doing field tests on drugs seized during investigations, according to an application for a warrant to search a north suburban home for drugs last week.
“Due to the risk of fentanyl exposure, my FBI squad no longer performs field tests on cocaine or heroin,” FBI agent Stacy Scott Jr. wrote.
The FBI says it doesn’t comment on evidence- handling procedures.
Last summer, the DEA sent out a nationwide advisory to law enforcement agencies urging officers to use caution during searches for drugs. Officers were encouraged to wear protective gloves before reaching into a suspect’s pockets in order to avoid skin contact with fentanyl and to wear masks to protect their lungs. The DEA also discouraged field tests of drugs, saying they should go straight to a lab.
“We still have the ability to conduct field tests,” said James Jones, a DEA agent and a spokesman for the agency’s office in Chicago. “However, we take safety precautions for all substances, even if the substance is not suspected of being fentanyl.”
He said agents conduct field tests in open, ventilated areas and the anti- narcotic drug Naloxone is available to them.
“We have access to a safety room at the lab that is also made available for those who wish to conduct the field test with additional safety mea- sures,” he added.
Jones said he didn’t know of any agents getting contaminated by fentanyl here.
Chicago Police narcotics officers do field tests on drugs, but not patrol officers.
“We have gloves,” one supervisor said. “We don’t always use them, but when we have intelligence that there’s fentanyl or PCP, we put them on.”