Fentanyl

Can fentanyl be lethal during brief contact with the skin? No, that's not true: While this drug can alleviate pain in cancer and post-surgery patients in hospital settings via skin patches, this type of absorption is an extremely slow process requiring certain conditions, including moisture. Authoritative professional medical organizations and law enforcement have issued multiple statements over the years saying…

During his February 20, 2023, trip to Ukraine, did President Joe Biden promise Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "stake in the United States" as a reward for "staying the course"? No, that's not true: This claim was published by a site known for printing fake news stories. The claim was part of an article with other debunked claims, including one…

Does a video shot from a helicopter show an airborne machine gun assault, either just before or after the January 5, 2023, arrest of the son of "El Chapo" Guzman, Ovidio Guzman Lopez? No, that's not true: Some of the footage circulating is more than a year and a half old -- posted on Facebook on August 21, 2021. Additional…

Did police in Kennesaw, Georgia, investigate a toxin-laced tissue that was reportedly placed on a gas pump handle by human traffickers to incapacitate their victims? No, that's not true: Lead Stories contacted two law enforcement agencies in Cobb County, Georgia, where the incident allegedly took place, and neither had any record of that, nor of it being reported. The person…

Was an off-duty Pentagon police officer caught dealing fentanyl to children during trick-or-treating? No, that's not true: Officer Eric Welch was arrested, but the arrest was on charges related to cocaine, not fentanyl, and the arrest took place three days prior to Halloween, according to the Arlington County, Virginia, police department. A headline claiming the arrest involved fentanyl and children…

Did a lethal amount of fentanyl kill George Floyd while he was being subdued by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin? No, that's not true: The autopsy report from the Hennepin County, Minnesota, medical examiner's office said the cause of death was "Cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." The claim appeared in an Instagram post on October…

Is an instantly disabling drug being soaked into napkins and placed on car doors to incapacitate targets of rape, abduction and car theft? Experts that Lead Stories spoke with said that there is no scientific evidence or official reports to support such claims, and the experts refuted related rumors. Since summer 2022 some social media users have posted warnings and…

Are drug dealers selling schoolkids a new type of methamphetamine called "Strawberry Breeze," that looks like strawberry-flavored candy? No, that's not true: Warnings about "Strawberry Breeze," "Strawberry Quick" and "Strawberry Quick Meth," allegedly highly addictive stimulants, have circulated online since 2007 and are not supported by evidence that traffickers are manufacturing a flavored and colored methamphetamine to sell to schoolchildren.…

Did the 1994 crime bill put over a million Black men in prison? No, that's not true: The Biden administration announced a plan in late July 2022 that, similar to the 1994 crime bill, would increase police funding and aim to crack down on crime. However, there is no evidence that the 1994 crime bill alone led to the incarceration…

Did a woman experience a fentanyl overdose after touching a folded dollar bill she found at a Nashville McDonald's? No, there's no evidence of that: Although she was given a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that's designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose, neither the woman nor the dollar bill she touched was tested for narcotics. The…