The Fatal Facts

Written By Dan Ouellette

Killer Drug

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.

Tom Petty at age 66 accidentally overdoses after mixing a variety of medications which included fentanyl.

Former NHL player Jimmy Hayes died from fentanyl and cocaine intoxication, M.E. determines

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.

Created in October 2020 and now hosting close to 7 million visitors, the podcast “Fatal Facts of Fentanyl” at facebook.com/offentanyl has served as an action group raising the awareness of lethal fentanyl with stories of poisonings and overdosing.

The 2021 documentary “Killer High: The Silent Crisis,” produced by Fresno ABC station KFSN-TV and ABC Localish Studio, proved to be a wakeup call for Central California. It focused on two families impacted by the fentanyl epidemic and the reactions of law enforcement and medical professionals. One speaker said, “The biggest threat to Fresno is no longer covid-19.”

To add more fuel to the fire, the horrendous carfentanil analog has found its way into the market and onto the streets with increasing frequency. It’s 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It was manufactured not for human use, but as a tranquilizer for large mammals.  

Author Information

Dan Ouellette is a free-lance journalist and author who has covered a range of topics in his decades long career based in San Francisco and since 1999 a resident of New York City. In California he reported on such stories as the dire work at Oakland’s Highland Hospital Emergency Room and how the building of a jazz club in Oakland helped the city resurrect a district that had been neglected. He also wrote about the cultural history of the Volkswagen Beetle that grew into a book on its history, its social impact and its new life as the New Beetle in 1998 (The Volkswagen Beetle Book). In New York, Ouellette largely turned his attention to the jazz scene of the city and international festivals. He was a writer, editor and teacher at City College. He wrote two biographies, Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes (a story about jazz’s greatest bass player), and Bruce Lundvall: Playing by Ear (about the one of the music industry’s most brilliant ears for signing star artists ranging from Herbie Hancock to Norah Jones). In addition to contributing to different magazines and online publications, Ouellette produces a monthly music column, Jazz & Beyond Intel, on his website: danouellette.net. He can be reached at danouell33@gmail.com.

Dan Ouellette

Dan Ouellette is a free-lance journalist and author who has covered a range of topics in his decades long career based in San Francisco and since 1999 a resident of New York City. In California he reported on such stories as the dire work at Oakland’s Highland Hospital Emergency Room and how the building of a jazz club in Oakland helped the city resurrect a district that had been neglected. He also wrote about the cultural history of the Volkswagen Beetle that grew into a book on its history, its social impact and its new life as the New Beetle in 1998 (The Volkswagen Beetle Book). In New York, Ouellette largely turned his attention to the jazz scene of the city and international festivals. He was a writer, editor and teacher at City College. He wrote two biographies, Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes (a story about jazz’s greatest bass player), and Bruce Lundvall: Playing by Ear (about the one of the music industry’s most brilliant ears for signing star artists ranging from Herbie Hancock to Norah Jones). In addition to contributing to different magazines and online publications, Ouellette produces a monthly music column, Jazz & Beyond Intel, on his website: danouellette.net. He can be reached at danouell33@gmail.com.

https://danouellette.net/
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