Experts question viral video of San Diego deputy’s fentanyl encounter

A public service video from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department about the dangers of fentanyl — with footage of a deputy allegedly overdosing after brief exposure — has sparked a backlash and allegations that the anti-drug effort could harm the very people it’s meant to help: law enforcement officers and drug users.

The body-worn camera video is stark and dramatic. A young sheriff’s deputy opens the back of a suspect‘s car, sees a white powder he thinks is fentanyl and then collapses to the pavement. His field training officer rips open a package of naloxone, the antidote to the deadly drug, and vows: “I’m not going to let you die.”

The video ends with Sheriff Bill Gore warning that “being exposed to just a few small grains of fentanyl could have deadly consequences.”

There’s just one problem. The risks of so-called passive exposure to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are overblown, according to interviews with medical experts and scientific studies. Such inaccurate messaging is instilling unnecessary fear in first responders, they said, and could cause them to be reluctant to treat people who have overdosed.