WASHINGTON — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is warning of a new problem presented by the nation’s opioid epidemic: the threat of law enforcement officers accidentally overdosing.
Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said Tuesday officers and emergency responders are increasingly coming in contact with potent synthetic opioids at crime scenes. He says accidental contact with the drugs can be dangerous.
Even very small amounts of drugs such as carfentanil and fentanyl can be deadly. Rosenberg warns officers who spot unknown substances to presume the worst.
He says the problem is a troubling side-effect of the nation’s drug abuse epidemic. There were 33,000 overdoses from heroin, fentanyl and other opioids in 2015.
DEA is providing a new fact sheet on the problem to officers in the field.
