ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2020
Fentanyl panic goes viral: The spread of misinformation about overdose risk from casual contact with fentanyl in mainstream and social media.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- 'If you've ever experienced it, you'd feel differently': Exploring willingness and skepticism toward using higher dose naloxone products among people who use drugs in Maryland, United States.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Variation in knowledge and attitudes among overdose prevention collaborations: Insights from fatality review teams.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Emergence of synthetic drugs in South America: insights from Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.Harm reduction journal · 2026Review
- Impacts of Risk Perceptions of Secondhand Exposure to Drugs on Intent to Leave Among Transit Operators: Transit Operators' Perceived Risk of Drug Exposure.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2026Article
- ACMT and AACT Position Statement: Preventing Occupational Opioid Exposure to Emergency Responders.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2026Article
- Missed opportunities: Public health messaging in media coverage of drug seizures.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- "All You Can Do is What You Know to Do": Naloxone Knowledge and Uncertainty Among People Who Use Drugs in Maryland amid a Volatile Drug Market.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Normalizing fentanyl: interpreting the perceived 'risk' of correctional officer work.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2024Article
- Attitudes of European psychiatrists on psychedelics: a qualitative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Mapping automatic social media information disorder. The role of bots and AI in spreading misleading information in society.PloS one · 2024Article
- Fentanyl Exposure and Detection Strategies Utilized by Clinical Trial Participants Seeking Linkage to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment at a Syringe Service Program.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2024Article
- Alcohol Use Disorder Narratives in U.S. Digital News Coverage and Engagement on Social Media.Health communication · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of take ACTION online naloxone training for law enforcement officers.Health & justice · 2023Article
- Using Social Media to Examine Themes Surrounding Fentanyl Misuse and Risk Indicators.Substance use & misuse · 2023Article
- Reports of accidental fentanyl overdose among police in the field: Toward correcting a harmful culture-bound syndrome.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- The Role of Misinformation and Stigma in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Uptake.Substance use & misuse · 2022Article
- Can touch this: training to correct police officer beliefs about overdose from incidental contact with fentanyl.Health & justice · 2021Article
- Determining the prevalence of cannabis, tobacco, and vaping device mentions in online communities using natural language processing.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFueled by misinformation, fentanyl panic has harmed public health through complicating overdose rescue while rationalizing hyper-punitive criminal laws, wasteful expenditures, and proposals to curtail vital access to pain pharmacotherapy. To assess misinformation about health risk from casual contact with fentanyl, we characterize its diffusion and excess visibility in mainstream and social media.
methodsWe used Media Cloud to compile and characterize mainstream and social media content published between January 2015 and September 2019 on overdose risk from casual fentanyl exposure.
resultsRelevant content appeared in 551 news articles spanning 48 states. Misinformed media reports received approximately 450,000 Facebook shares, potentially reaching nearly 70,000,000 users from 2015-2019. Amplified by erroneous government statements, misinformation received excess social media visibility by a factor of 15 compared to corrective content, which garnered fewer than 30,000 shares with potential reach of 4,600,000 Facebook users.
conclusionHealth-related misinformation continues to proliferate online, hampering responses to public health crises. More evidence-informed tools are needed to effectively challenge misinformed narratives in mainstream and social media.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.