MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The synthetic opioid fentanyl is so deadly it’s changing how police officers do their jobs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hosted a special training in Myrtle Beach Tuesday morning to teach officers how to protect themselves when they respond to drug busts.
A laboratory director from the DEA showed officers just how little of the drug can be lethal. She used flour to show that just a few milligrams, or enough to fit on the tip of your finger, can kill a grown man.
The deadly danger is exactly why officers and the DEA say they have to find new ways to protect themselves and the community.
“Fentanyl is being distributed on your streets.”
The DEA warns Horry and surrounding counties of the dangers of fentanyl. People who have never done the synthetic drug can still die from it.
“It can be absorbed transdermally through the skin,” explains Patrick Apel, DEA resident agent in charge. “It can be inhaled, and it poses a significant threat to the general public.”
A special DEA lab director from Miami was brought in to teach officers from Myrtle Beach and Horry and Florence Counties proper protection.
“You want to have your gloves, you want to have your N95 masks,” instructs Agnes Winokur, DEA associate lab director.
Winokur says fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin even though the drugs can be almost identical in appearance.
“They’re playing Russian roulette, they just do not know what they’re gonna get,” describes Winokur.
During the training, officers bagged and sealed flour to see how little they could get on surfaces or their bodies. One officer taking part in the training has already handled the drug in Myrtle Beach, but says further training was needed.
“It just let me know, like, ‘Hey, we probably need to change some of our policies and adopt some changes in our departments,’” reveals Austin Cox, Myrtle Beach Police Department patrolman first class.
Cox says, based on the training, that’s a need to change the way Myrtle Beach officers conduct testing in the field. DEA officials agree, saying the agency no longer tests substances outside of a lab.
“It’s too high of a risk for us for the potential to be exposed to fentanyl,” explains Apel.
In May, an Ohio police officer overdosed and nearly died when he touched the drug while making an arrest.
Law enforcement and the DEA say if you see you any kind of white substance or powder, do not touch it, call police or 911 immediately.