SANFORD, Fla. (WFLA) — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills to help combat Florida’s opioid problems Monday.
The first bill DeSantis signed was Senate Bill 718, which will now make it a second-degree felony to “recklessly” expose first responders to fentanyl.
“If an officer says do you have drugs in your possession and you lie and the officer ends up getting exposed and harmed, we’re going to throw the book at you,” the governor said.
The bill’s text said this exposure could be through “ingestion, inhalation, needlestick injury, or absorption through skin or mucous, and membranes.”
In years past, police officers across the country have reported adverse effects from fentanyl exposure after touching the drug. However, medical experts have countered these reports, saying fentanyl powder does not enter the body easily.
“Fentanyl does not pass through the skin efficiently or well,” Dr. Ryan Marino, an ER physician, told NPR in 2023. “The dry powder form that’s encountered in street drugs is not going to pass through the skin in any meaningful way.”
In 2021, the CDC released an analysis of 12 police exposure incidents saying that officers did have brief health effects after being exposed to opioids, but
