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Airborne Fentanyl Shuts Down Cumberland County Jail

PORTLAND, Maine - The Cumberland County Jail was locked down for a couple of hours Friday, and officers taken to the hospital after a packet of fentanyl went airborne.
Chief Deputy Naldo Gagnon says officers were booking 29 year old Brent Gross of Westbrook on suspicion of trafficking in fentanyl, as well as prison contraband, when a scuffle ensued. This, he says, caused a parcel of drugs, allegedly belonging to Gross, to open and release a powder into the air. 

Gagnon says the powder tested positive for the powerful prescription opioid, fentanyl.

The intake office of the jail was closed for about two hours for decontamination procedures, and officers were sent for medical treatment at Maine Medical Center. They later returned to work.

The rest of the facility was placed in lockdown during the event.

  
 
 
 
 
Fentanyl is a powerful pain-killing opioid, linked to a number of overdose deaths. According to Attorney General Janet Mills, 2017 saw 247 out of 418 overdose deaths linked to fentanyl.