Drugs have been relegated to a less prominent position on the panic scale, eclipsed by fears that transgender youth might receive medical treatment or by fretting over a classroom featuring Catch-22 (no worries from that crowed about a 22-caliber being present).

But there is still plenty of angst over them there drugs. One example is concern that police officers are suffering catastrophic medical conditions after touching or inhaling powdered fentanyl. But according to an NPR report, medical experts consider this a physical impossibility. The network quoted toxicologist Dr. Ryan Marino as saying, “There has never been an overdose through skin contact or accidentally inhaling fentanyl.”

To be clear, the synthetic opioid is serious stuff. It causes tens of thousands of deaths each year. And owing to its potency and usually being in a concentrated form, overdosing is common.

But hospitalizations and deaths come from it being smoked or injected, not through accidentally getting some on your hands. It is also highly unlikely that one could be exposed to a lethal airborne dose. Brandon Del Pozo, a former police chief who studies addiction, told NPR, “The idea of it hanging in the air and getting breathed in is nearly impossible.”

The news organization failed to uncover one instance of medical personnel confirming that a police officer had been poisoned by or overdosed on fentanyl from incidental exposure. There had been several anecdotes or claims but none of these alleged incidents were confirmed by toxicology reports.

Indeed, the UC Davis website features an interview with its Department of Emergency Medicine’s co-director, who tells us, “It is a common misconception that fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin, but it is not true for casual exposure. You can’t overdose on fentanyl by touching a doorknob or dollar bill. The one case in which fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin is with a special doctor-prescribed fentanyl skin patch, and even then, it takes hours of exposure.”

So there are no dangers here. The panicked crowd can get back to protecting children from everything except flying bullets.