LARAMIE, WY -The company will make this brief available at no cost to Hazmat teams, fire departments/fire marshals, law enforcement officials or any other public safety/health professionals to assist in their preparation and response to this onslaught of overdoses. The document is available to those that request it at the Company’s web site (http://www.aristatek.com).
Acetyl Fentanyl or Acetyl Fentanyl Hydrochloride is a synthetic opiate that has been found in street drugs and is sometimes mixed with or sold as heroin. This drug is not used in any prescription medicine nor is it commercially produced. Due to this lack of commercial production, very little information is available on the substance. The brief entitled ‘Acetyl Fentanyl — A Dangerous Street Drug’ consolidates information from many public sources in an effort to inform and educate first responders and public safety/health officials that may have this drug in their communities.
The use of acetyl fentanyl hydrochloride in street drugs was first noticed by Rhode Island State Health Laboratories testing blood samples from 10 deaths by drug users that occurred between March 7, 2013 and April 11, 2013 in a small city in northern Rhode Island. By May 2013, the number of Rhode Island acetyl fentanyl deaths had increased to 14. Since that time, clusters of acetyl fentanyl deaths have been reported in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Louisiana and elsewhere.
“One of our hazmat team customers in North Carolina recently approached us asking if we knew anything about this substance,” stated Bruce King, CEO of Aristatek. “After searching and finding little reputable data on acetyl fentanyl, we dug deeper and compiled some useful information that should help these folks with planning and responding to these incidents.”
One of the revelations in the brief is that acetyl fentanyl users have posted warnings saying acetyl fentanyl does not give enough of the “euphoric high” compared with heroin and this can lead to overdoses by improperly increasing dosage. The brief also touches on the conflicting reports on the drugs potency from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other published studies, as well as confirming that naloxone, commercially known as Narcan, is the proper antidote for an overdose, albeit sometimes in higher doses.
“We modeled this brief after the technical reference resources found in our PEAC-WMD software product by consolidating many resources into easy-to-digest topics along with public resources,” continues King. “The brief covers potency, forms and uses, symptoms of exposure, routes of exposure, lethal doses, treatment, chemistry and we even attach a full CDC brief title ‘Recommendations for Laboratory Testing for Acetyl Fentanyl and Patient Evaluation and Treatment for Overdose with Synthetic Opioid’ so the reader doesn’t have to search further for this document for reference.”
This latest technical brief from AristaTek is a follow-up to their other popular briefs titled ‘Ammonium Nitrate Estimated Blast Effects’ released in September 2013 and ‘Toxic Consequences of Smoke Plumes from Crude Oil Fires’ released in September 2014. These briefs can also be requested by visiting the company’s web site.
About AristaTek
Formed in 1999 by four chemists and engineers who conducted field scale research studies at the Nevada Test Site’s Hazmat Spill Center (HSC) mandated by the 1986 Superfund and Reauthorization Act (SARA) and the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) during the 1990’s, AristaTek has become a leading provider of CBRNE and HAZMAT response and planning solutions to the civilian and military market.
PEAC-WMDâ„¢, AristaTek’s leading software product, assists in response efforts by consolidating CBRNE & HAZMAT technical reference sources and automating stand-off distance modeling and communication of incident data. The PEAC® software is the industry-standard in the CBRNE & HAZMAT response community, supporting critical CBRNE units such as the National Guard Civil Support Teams (CST), the United States Air Force (USAF) and countless civilian responders worldwide. AristaTek is a certified HUBZone business. For additional information, visit http://www.aristatek.com.
