This month, Massachusetts became the first state to ban fentanyl and carfentanil from being brought into courthouses as exhibits, out of concern that these substances are simply too dangerous to be in public places. The policy is based in part on the idea that even minuscule amounts of skin exposure to these drugs can be life-threatening. This is patently false — and we fear that it will worsen what is already a public health crisis.

This false belief about the danger of these drugs seems to stem from several unsubstantiated — though widely disseminated — media reports over the past year. In one such story, a drug patrolman became ill after brushing some powder off his uniform that he picked up while searching a suspect’s car. First reported by local news in Ohio, the story was picked up by “CBS This Morning,” The Washington Post and CNN, to name a few. In another case, also in Ohio, three nurses went from cleaning a patient’s room to waking up in hospital beds of their own. After local media reported it, and The Associated Press and US News & World Report took it national. In both cases, the victims were given naloxone, the highly effective opioid reversal agent, and ultimately recovered.

But the damage was done. Both stories are examples of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy: Just because somebody received naloxone and later recovered is not by itself proof that the medication had any more effect than that other tried-and-true antidote for what are likely to have been severe panic attacks: time. Indeed, given the tall-tales circulating in the press and in law enforcement circles about the supposed hazard of passive fentanyl exposure, one can hardly blame them for panicking.

This paranoia is reflected in the new Massachusetts courtroom policy, which bolsters the delusion that opioids can kill via unintended casual contact. As emergency physicians, we are concerned not just about this massive public misperception but also about its consequences to public health if emergency medical workers or other care providers are scared out of performing their normal lifesaving duties.