In 2021, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department published body-cam footage of a deputy who collapsed after coming into contact with fentanyl. The video quickly went viral, with the department warning repeatedly that the deputy would have died of overdose had his partner not administered Narcan.
It brought public discourse around secondhand fentanyl exposure to a boiling point. Police officers still insist they’re at risk from accidental overdose, but more people know that it’s a myth now.
Prisons and jails have a very different drug supply than the free world. It isn’t dominated by fentanyl. Most of the overwrought press releases put out by corrections department are about synthetic cannabinoids. Also known as “K2” or “Spice,” synthetic cannabinoids don’t pose a risk of secondhand exposure either, but that myth is still enjoying a pretty long leash.
Opioid overdose is dangerous because it causes respiratory depression. Synthetic cannabinoid overdose isn’t linked to any particular mechanism of death in the same way, but in very rare cases it has been linked to fatal overdose.
“There is no specific toxidrome associated with synthetic cannabinoid exposure. Clinical effects are variable,” states the California Poison Control System. “Treatment of SC toxicity is mainly supportive.”
Mind you, this is for people who consumed synthetic cannabinoids directly. To date there is no body of medical evidence supporting the premise that inadvertent exposure is harmful, but this has not discouraged corrections departments across the country from implementing sweeping policy changes they claim are necessary to keep officers safe.
Legislators in Massachusetts are currently considering a proposal to give disability benefits and workers’ comp to officers who claim they were harmed by exposure. Bill H.2702, “An Act to Protect Correctional Officers,” is scheduled for a hearing September 25. Part of the bill reads:
Any employee who is injured or becomes ill due to exposure to synthetic cannabinoids (K2) in the course of their employment, including but not limited to correctional officers, first responders, health care professionals and other workers who may come into contact with K2 in the workplace, shall be eligible for medical leave under the Massachusetts Family and Medical Leave Act pursuant to Chapter 175M of the General Laws. Individuals who are exposed to K2 and suffer from any related medical condition shall be eligible for workers’ compensation or disability benefits and may apply for Industrial Accident Leave and continue to receive coverage under the Group Insurance Commission health insurance plan during their recovery period. Employees who are affected by K2 exposure and are unable to work shall retain eligibility for health insurance under the GIC without interruption while awaiting final determination of their disability leave status.
Members of the public can sign up to testify, or submit written testimony, through September 22. Sponsor Rep. Michael J. Soter (R) did not respond to Filter’s request for comment about medical evidence substantiating the bill.
MDOC had for several years faced pressure from the officer’s union to implement an “exposure policy.”
In 2022, Massachusetts Department of Correction (MDOC) Officer John Connelly found a stash of what appeared to be synthetic cannabinoid strips, felt his legs go weak, and at his partner’s suggestion went to get checked out by medical. Somewhere along the way he received four doses of Narcan, which only works for opioid overdose.
“I remember getting my blood pressure taken and it was like 165 over something, and [the nurse] just told me, y’know, just try to relax. And I could just feel my heart going crazy, and my mind started going crazy, and I don’t, I don’t remember anything after that,” Connelly said in a video interview with the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union.
“It’s kind of concerning because this is the second time that this has happened to me,” he continued. “Back in 2018 this happened to me, but not as bad. But every time I feel like it’s getting worse. Or maybe the drugs are getting stronger. But it’s scary, because it’s really affecting me pretty bad.”
MDOC had for several years faced pressure from the union to implement an “exposure policy” to address the perceived threat of synthetic cannabinoids. A few months after Connolly’s exposure incident, MDOC rolled out an “Unknown Substance Response” policy that describes how officers should protect themselves with gloves, safety goggles, surgical masks or in some cases Powered Air Purifying Respirators. Meanwhile, the department doubled down on drone detection and K-9 units. But the policy stops short of mentioning synthetic cannabinoids by name; only fentanyl.
In the first seven months of 2024, 156 MDOC officers reported being injured on the job, with half of them requiring time off work. Of the 156 officers who reported injury, 53 cited drug exposure. A policy that legitimizes synthetic cannabinoid exposure as a real thing would make this a lot easier.
Legislators cite these stories as examples of how once again an officer was hospitalized and had to be administered Narcan, but rarely if ever do these stories say anyone was actually harmed.
Prisons and jails operate outside the law, in the sense that the rules that govern day-to-day life come from department policy, which prohibits a lot of things that are not illegal in the outside world. However, corrections officers and their unions are often very invested in free-world legislation, when it will allow them to pass policies they wouldn’t have been able to pass otherwise. If H.2702 is enacted, the next revision of MDOC’s “Unknown Substance Response” policy will probably be a lot more drug-specific.
Connolly said that he had seizures during the incident, and at the time of the interview was about to schedule an MRI because he still found himself shaking uncontrollably sometimes. “It’s hard to deal with my mental health right now.”
The stories of corrections officers suffering near-fatal synthetic cannabinoid exposure invariably describe them experiencing heart palpitations and other symptoms like dizziness, sweating and rapid breathing, even fainting or convulsions, and then Narcanning themselves or their partner before getting checked out at the infirmary or local hospital for good measure.
Legislators then cite them as examples of how once again an officer was hospitalized and had to be administered Narcan, implying that therefore they nearly died. But almost none of these stories ever say that officers were actually harmed. It’s just a way of creating urgency. The classic example of this tactic is when officials in the free world justify a crackdown on something—vapes, edibles, kratom—by saying that calls to poison control have gone up. This fact alone does not mean more people are being poisoned, just that more people are worried about it.
Similar to cops in the free world, many corrections officers are immersed in their own propaganda about how certain drugs are so potent and so dangerous that you can die from just touching them—and so the sudden realization that you’ve maybe just touched them can trigger a very real physical and emotional response.
Of course, some officers know the hype isn’t real, since they’re also the ones carrying the drugs inside the facilities in the first place. But the more officials crack down on a threat that isn’t there, the more contraband drug prices go up, so it benefits them to say they believe it, too.
Photograph (cropped) via Washington Military Department