United States: It used to be exciting to find a dollar on the ground, but now, some police are saying it might not be so lucky. In places like Lane County, Kansas, police have warned people to avoid touching money they find because it could be hiding dangerous drugs, like Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a harmful drug, and people sometimes use folded bills to hide it. So, if you find money on the ground, it’s safer to just keep walking and tell an adult or the police.
The post went on to say the following: “Around this evening a citizen informed the on-duty Deputy that they found a folded one-dollar bill on the lawn. When opening it, there was a white powder which had poured out of it.
As reported by the iheart.com, the bill was taken, and the field test came out positive for Methamphetamine. In addition, no results were found for Opiates and Fentanyl in the subsequent field tests.
The post ended with the following statement, “You should always be aware of possible danger in the environment.
If you fancy that it could have been an isolated event, that it is not so. Some other police departments have also shared the same incidences and urged residents not to handle Fentanyl. They aren’t alone – the Drug Enforcement Administration also issued a warning in 2016 that reads, “Fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin or accidental blow back of the airborne powder can also occur.
Even by handling fentanyl or just coming into contact with the fentanyl substance during enforcement activities or field testing of the substance, the skin absorbs it. The emergence of symptoms comprising of disorientation, coughing, sedation, respiratory distress, or cardiac arrest is very swift and severe and is manifested immediately after about 5 minutes to expo exposure. Three years later, the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention gave a similar warning.
Despite numerous warnings that have been made, however, it is pertinent to underscore that the American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology was at pains to point out that those warnings are not very accurate; that the chances of being exposed to Fentanyl are extremely remote and that the cumulative effect of that exposure won’t be dangerous in any way.
According to one study even to experience the effects of Fentanyl at very high concentrations, 200 minutes of inhalation would be required, and the persons does not die.
In either case, you should always remain cautious when it comes to any money you pick up – its probably too good to be true.