Articles by Safety Services Management

The Silent Victims of the Opioid Crisis: The Urgent Call for Legislation and Training
Fentanyl Contamination Jon Schibsted Fentanyl Contamination Jon Schibsted

The Silent Victims of the Opioid Crisis: The Urgent Call for Legislation and Training

We are living in an opioid crisis which has had a devastating impact on the United States. This epidemic has not only effected those struggling with addiction and their loved ones but those tasked with working around this lethal chemical. What is less discussed are the professionals and innocent bystanders who also are being effected by this epidemic. This article aims to shed light on this new and growing hazard.

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Jon Schibsted Jon Schibsted

Los Angeles Schools dealing with fatal fentanyl

In the weeks to follow, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho intends to provide Narcan, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, to every LAUSD campus. This is a great start to helping those who are actively overdosing. However, this does not stop the truckloads of lethal illegal drugs crossing our southern border.

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Fentanyl Epidemic in Teens
Fentanyl Contamination Dan Ouellette Fentanyl Contamination Dan Ouellette

Fentanyl Epidemic in Teens

Deaths associated with the illicit flow of fentanyl into American culture is often deemed to be an adult problem. In cities, addicts gathered in small clusters—like The Tenderloin district of San Francisco—will jump at any drug that comes their way. In the suburbs, people craving an exciting recreational high are at full risk because they don’t know what’s in a drug that has been purchased. Online dealers are notorious for flooding the market with fentanyl-laced powders and pills. These cases are proliferating in recent years, though too often they fall out of consciousness as an issue that is irrelevant. But what about the kids?

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Multiple Parents Arrested for Fentanyl Death's
Fentanyl Contamination Dan Ouellette Fentanyl Contamination Dan Ouellette

Multiple Parents Arrested for Fentanyl Death's

Illicit fentanyl deaths continue to make the news almost daily with nation-wide cases involving recreational users and opioid addicts. The fine line between getting high and bottoming out in death is incredibly narrow. Fentanyl’s lethality amounts to two milligrams—small enough to fit on the tip of a sharpened pencil. That makes a contaminated space of a victim’s use or even as a cutting lab a monumental cleaning challenge for specialized crews.

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Fentanyl - Chemical Weapons Attack

Fentanyl - Chemical Weapons Attack

The word is only slowly getting out in media circles about the dangers of illicit fentanyl trafficking.

In the 2019 The New York Times Magazine story “The China Connection: How a DEA Agent Cracked a Global Fentanyl Ring,” author Alex W. Palmer wrote: “A kilogram of fentanyl, purchased for only a few thousand dollars, can be mixed with heroin and made into a couple million dollars’ worth of pills. By contrast, a kilogram of undiluted heroin nets less than $80,000 in profit.”

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The Fatal Facts
Dan Ouellette Dan Ouellette

The Fatal Facts

Most people don’t recognize the dangers. Rock stars battling injuries from fatigue on the road have fallen prey to taking pain-killing drugs laced with fentanyl. Two of the music’s superstars fell into that category: Prince and Tom Petty.

Sports stars also have to be aware. Recently former Boston Bruins’ hockey player Jimmy Hayes died, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts, “from acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine.” He became addicted to painkillers after suffering a hockey injury.

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