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WestCoastSurfGod t1_j0jcwdi wrote

Great news for not just addicts but also first responders and police.

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Mallenaut t1_j0ke10y wrote

Please don't believe the bogus about throwing Fentanyl at police officers resulting in intoxication.

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WestCoastSurfGod t1_j0kql9c wrote

Police and paramedics are intoxicated while inadvertently handling it during the course of their duties.

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No-Bandicoot7132 t1_j0kuwgk wrote

From my understanding that is not the case. " Skin exposure is NOT likely to lead to toxicity through absorption" from vdh.Virginia.gov just Google fentanyl exposure skin contact

John oliver did a piece on the subject actually

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WestCoastSurfGod t1_j0kv1s4 wrote

Nobody said anything about skin exposure. It’s a fine powder. Look, people will want this vaccine for a myriad of reasons. It’s down to personal choice.

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Girafferage t1_j0kexpp wrote

They will still overreact to being exposed to it, because just like before, it can't be absorbed through your skin. You have to intentionally take it. Police that pretend to react to it are almost certainly having panic attacks because of fear of it due to insanely low understanding of how it works.

Honestly this vaccine could just be a piece of wood. "Bite down on this and avoid injecting anything into your body and you can't be exposed to fentanyl".

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danielv123 t1_j0l9xaj wrote

Except it could also helps addicts for example, or people who are exposed to it other ways (is spiking drinks with it a thing?)

I am sure quite a few people would want this.

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Girafferage t1_j0lezxn wrote

For sure. But in the case of police coming into contact with it, it means next to nothing, since they weren't affected to begin with.

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BoxOfDemons t1_j0m0f62 wrote

It can be absorbed through skin. They make fentanyl patches. I'm not saying it absorbs great through the skin, or that there's any risk getting a small amount on you as a first responder, but they do in fact make fentanyl skin patches.

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sharkpilot t1_j0m552t wrote

They make nicotine patches too, but you're not satisfying your cigarette craving by rubbing a handful of loose tobacco on your arm.

The patches are a preparation specifically designed to be absorbed through the skin. Other forms do not work the same way.

First responders need to take precautions to protect themselves from myriad things, but the threat of "skin absorbed fentanyl" is incredibly low. The stories you hear are largely overblown attempts to score some copaganda points and perpetuate an ineffectual "War on Drugs." It's not about keeping officers safe, it's about maintaining funding.

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BoxOfDemons t1_j0m8hgw wrote

>The patches are a preparation specifically designed to be absorbed through the skin. Other forms do not work the same way.

It's just normal fentanyl and I believe some patches heat up slightly because that helps absorbtion. The thing is, the patches stay on for DAYS because of how slow the absorbtion of fentanyl is through the skin. But they've been known to kill children.

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juan-love t1_j0kwcw0 wrote

Fentanyl can be snorted or ingested too though?

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Girafferage t1_j0l2fmg wrote

Not if there is blocks of wood in your nose and mouth. Blocks of wood are OP

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MileysMooseKnuckle t1_j0ljtpk wrote

And also pretty useless for hospitals.

Fentanyl is used as a medicine for a huge list of things but importantly anesthesia, because the body still responds to pain even when unconscious and blocking that can have a few benefits, but importantly it can remove reflexive movements and limit inflammation (no signals for injury, no immediate response by the body).

It's also used because its got a wider range of dosage than morphine, as in you can get effects with a smaller dose while weaker concentrations have both a lower minimum dose and higher maximum dose.

Having people who are unaffected by it could cause issues in hospitals.

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agaperion OP t1_j0lsky0 wrote

Assuming for the sake of discussion that this is only given to addicts so they can break their addiction then I don't think that would be any more of a strain on hospitals than preexisting exceptions demanding special consideration, such as allergies and natural treatment resistance. It's already common for people to know when they can't be administered a given medication and to inform first responders and doctors. It's also already common for that information to sometimes not be provided and for a patient's treatment to fail. Unfortunate, yes. But also, we weigh these sorts of cost-benefit considerations all the time. It comes with the territory of living in a society. The possibility of that occasional misfortune doesn't seem to outweigh the benefit of helping millions and potentially ending the fentanyl crisis.

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