The Civil Guard is already preparing for the hypothetical arrival in Spain of caches of fentanyl, a devastating drug whose consumption causes havoc in the United States. The Judicial Police Technical Unit of the armed institute has prepared a brochure with basic information for agents that contains warnings about the risks of handling this substance during operations that lead to seizures of this drug. The document, which includes the guidelines of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), alerts agents of the risk that in their work with stashes of fentanyl they may suffer an overdose due to “inhalation.” , dermal exposure, accidental ingestion or percutaneous exposure [pinchazo]” and points out the need to use protective equipment to carry out searches on people, vehicles, luggage, premises or clandestine laboratories. The pamphlet highlights that this drug “can be fatal even in small doses.” No cache of this substance has been seized in Spain so far.
Fentanyl is a medication that, according to the Civil Guard brochure, is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 more than morphine. Developed to treat certain episodes of intense pain, especially that caused by advanced-stage cancer, it has jumped from doctors’ offices and pharmacies to the streets and, once distributed in its illegal form, has swelled the so-called opiate epidemic. , responsible for thousands of deaths on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. According to official data, in the United States alone 91,799 people died from an overdose of this substance throughout 2020. The following year, the figure rose to 106,699 and in 2022 it has been responsible for at least two thirds of the 110,000 deaths. registered for the same reason. In this country, where it is sometimes mixed with an animal anesthetic called xylazine to prolong its effects, it is already considered responsible for the worst health crisis in its recent history, only on par with AIDS in the 1980s and the pandemic. covid-19. The substance can be injected, inhaled, smoked, or swallowed in pills.
In Spain, no cache of this substance has been seized so far, as confirmed by sources from the National Police and the Civil Guard. The only interventions have been linked to its pharmacological format (more than 80 medications are marketed with this principle with different doses and brand names). This month, police arrested a woman in Logroño accused of having falsified medical prescriptions with which she obtained more than 10,000 pills of a medication that contained it. The investigation concluded that she did not want them for trafficking, but for her own consumption. Despite this, the Security Forces are on alert. In September, senior officers of the National Police in the fight against drug trafficking participated in a police congress on fentanyl in Colombia. And the General Directorate of the Civil Guard has created a working group to develop a procedure for action in the event of the eventual appearance of the first caches.
The triptych now distributed among the research units of the armed institute is, for now, the first known movement to instruct agents on how to act against this drug. In it, it is highlighted that the “most frequent” errors that can be made in a police intervention are “smelling the package” that contains the substance or handling it without minimal protective equipment. And he describes as “very high” the risk of an agent being exposed to fentanyl “in an operational environment, such as an arrest at an airport, opening packages, searching vehicles, searching homes, etc.”
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In this sense, it emphasizes that the danger of exposure through inhalation is “high” if this drug is found in powder and, therefore, “in the form of respirable particles.” It also warns against exposure to the eyes and mucous membranes, as well as the skin since fentanyl has “the ability to cross the skin barrier.” For all these reasons, it recommends the use of personal protective equipment (known as PPE) that includes masks, gloves and protective glasses and, in some cases, such as the registration of “confined spaces” or “clandestine laboratories” also overalls that cover from head to toe.
In case of poisoning
The brochure also includes instructions for action in the event that, despite precautionary measures, the agent eventually suffers from poisoning. To do this, the Civil Guard refers to the recommendations of the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thus, it suggests that the affected agent be administered naloxone (a medication that can be administered with a nasal spray and that blocks the effects of opioids such as heroin and fentanyl), that his respiratory tract be cleared, and that he be given safety measures. artificial respiration. For decontamination in case of contact with the skin, the guidelines for the civil guards are to simply wash with water first, and then also use soap. It warns them that, under no circumstances, use hydroalcoholic gel or any other solution that contains alcohol or bleach in its composition. Clothing should be removed “as soon as possible” from the body and isolated, avoiding mixing it with other unaffected clothing. It is recommended that “oxidative and hypochlorite-based cleaning agents” be used for washing. [un agente desinfectante presente en la lejía]”.
Justice for the Civil Guard (Jucil, the majority professional association among the armed institute’s agents) has asked the Ministry of the Interior, after learning about this document of recommendations, that “all units be equipped with the antidote naloxone and that it also be distributed to the civil guards as personal equipment” to act in the event of an accidental overdose of this drug. Along the same lines, the Unified Police Union (SUP) has asked Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s department for a detailed study on the effects of this “new drug” and for action and intervention protocols to be issued that include the acquisition and distribution. among the agents of the drug that counteracts the dangerous effects of fentanyl.
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