Many of us have heard a variation of the many rumors circulating regarding drug use in general or fentanyl in particular. As recently as October, we saw a resurgence of the old “drug-laced Halloween candy” myths of yore, but even before that, as death tolls mounted due to the illicit opioid crisis, we have seen a recycling of the tried – and failed – scare tactics of D.A.R.E.
The most recent iteration is the rainbow fentanyl scare and the hyperbole associated with the inferences that small quantities of fentanyl can kill an entire county or the entire population of California twice over, as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco recently claimed in a press release. These are completely untrue.
Media savvy readers might see these as warnings or commonsense safety precautions, but all those statements really are is fear mongering and hyperbole. This drug policy rumor mill not only misleads the public about critical health information, it distorts policy discussion, hinders reform, and has deadly consequences.
As the Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) and a retired police lieutenant, I know the importance of getting the facts right and using evidence rather than conjecture to accomplish our goals. In this instance, that goal is to achieve meaningful reform that actually saves lives. From my experience working specialized units that included gang and narcotics investigations, I know, too, that those same things are what protect officers on the job and protect public health and safety.
In August, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued a warning about so-called “rainbow fentanyl,” calling it a “deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.” The resulting coverage in the media was all about sparking fear amongst parents nationwide and turning the public against policies of harm reduction.
But the DEA’s claim is not the reality. Drug trafficking experts have debunked this rumor, pointing instead to long-studied tactics of substance concealment. Yes, law enforcement agents have seized fentanyl hidden in toys, but it wasn’t put there to lure kids–it was hidden in unassuming objects in order to more easily smuggle it past law enforcement.
The same experts also debunked the claim that brightly colored pills were designed to lure children. Rather than being disguised as candy, drug traffickers and dealers will color their product to distinguish it from other substances and to make it look more like pharmaceutical-grade drugs.
Halloween has come and gone and not one case of a child overdosing or even finding rainbow fentanyl has been reported. Instead the result of fear mongering tactics has been to distract and detract from the conversation about the very real dangers of the opioid crisis.
As with rainbow fentanyl, rumors, myths and alarmism about the dangers of skin contact with fentanyl has had a negative impact on first responders. The pervasive belief among police that just getting a small amount of the substance on exposed skin can cause an overdose and death is damaging. It can slow the life saving response to a person overdosing and it adds to officer stress and burnout.
There are no reported cases of this happening to a police officer or other first responder, but disinformation by both law enforcement and the media keeps churning this baseless fear to the detriment of those who need help. Harm reduction and policy reform seem to have no greater obstacle than the beliefs that surround substance use, treatment options, and recovery.
The War on Drugs has fueled mass incarceration as a method for treating substance use disorder. By imprisoning people who use drugs, they’ll have to stop and end their addictions, right?
Wrong. Despite decades of effort, incarcerated people still overdose at a rate much higher than the rest of the population. Riverside County in California reported that 38% of in-custody deaths this year can be linked to fentanyl. Sheriff Bianco, who touts a tough on crime approach that includes drug-induced homicide charges to solve a public health issue can’t even manage to keep drugs, including fentanyl, out of his own jails. This is emblematic of the ongoing failure of our drug policies, not of its success.
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We need to take a bold approach to saving lives, and it requires us to acknowledge that the status quo is simply not working. What is needed is a paradigm shift that closely links public health and law enforcement strategies with our most important outcome: saving lives that reduces both morbidity and mortality.
What we say matters and when we repeat alarmist rumors we are perpetuating a cycle of harm that has life and death consequences for thousands of people. Distorting the policy discussion only serves the interests of those who want to keep our failed drug policies stuck in the past rather than embrace new approaches to public health and safety. Change is scary, but losing hundreds of thousands more lives to opioids is worse.
Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.) worked for the Redondo Beach Police Department for 21 years. She is the executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit group of officers who want to transform policing by advocating for drug policy and criminal justice reforms that will make communities safer and more just.