Arkansas police department deletes overhyped warning about fentanyl after it goes viral

Updated

A dangerous warning posted by a police department in Arkansas about fentanyl on shopping carts quickly went viral, but has since been deleted over concerns the guidance was overblown and not a genuine threat.

Earlier this week, the Leachville Police Department shared an alert urging the public to wipe down their shopping cart handles before using them. In the post, the department said deadly drugs, namely fentanyl, could be left behind on the handle and enter the next person’s body through skin contact.

"All you'd have to do is rub your nose or touch your child's mouth," the department wrote. "Children just being exposed to the powder or residue is a bad situation that can turn deadly."

However, while some experts say the accidental ingestion is technically possible, most say it would be highly unlikely to occur from a person touching a cart handle.

RELATED: Learn more about fentanyl

Dr. Christopher Hoyte, associate medical director for the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center and faculty member for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told CBS News he can't say it's "impossible," but said that the claim is "very improbable."

"I never say never, but it is highly, highly, highly, unlikely someone could become that systemically ill just from having fentanyl touch their skin," Hoyte told the outlet. "It's not absorbed just touching it."

"I will say if they touched it and then rubbed their nose and breathed it in through that way that would be a possibility," he added.

Franklin County Lt. Scott Reed from the Multi-County Narcotics and Violent Crimes Unit told WKYC that the chances of being poisoned by fentanyl from touching a grocery cart are highly unlikely.

He further told the outlet, that if a user had enough of the drug in their system to the point that it could transfer to another, they would be unconscious.

The police department has since deleted that post and apologized for the confusion.

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