Wellness & Well-being Highlights August 18th
Wellness & Well-being Highlights
for the
Week of August 18, 2025
This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks at the negative impact of Chatbots on people with Autism—to how deaths from the opioids crisis has turned grandparents into parents once again—to why many teens today are avoiding learning how to drive. This week I would like to take a closer look at the ever-changing 4th wave of our nation’s opioids crisis.
In previous blogs I have written about how the opioids crisis has moved from one phase to another. Today, I wish to speak to its current phase but let’s first quickly identify the first 3 phases.
1) Overprescribing/Diversion
2) Heroin
3) Fentanyl
The 4th phase can be described as Polysubstances. In this phase we find suppliers/dealers adding other substances (typically drugs) into their fentanyl supply. By now, most of us have heard that we should NEVER take a pill unless it was provided to you by your doctor or pharmacist. Why? Because suppliers/dealers are pressing counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. The cutting of the fentanyl may be done for various reasons, including but limited to stretching one’s profits.
Another possible reason to cut fentanyl is to prolong one’s high. Within the past 2 years we have seen Xylazine laced into fentanyl. Xylazine is an animal sedative…it was not intended for human use…therefore, we do not have an antidote for humans. Since Xylazine is a sedative and not an opioid, Narcan (naloxone) does NOT work to reverse it. More recently, we are experiencing a different drug being added to fentanyl: Medetomidine…is stronger than Xylazine. While approved for specific uses in humans, Medetomidine is “most often used by veterinarians as an animal tranquilizer.”[1] This drug dangerously slows the heart rate sometimes into the 20s (~60 beats per minute is usual) and also does NOT respond to Narcan.
So as law enforcement cracks down on Xylazine, the drug cartels pivot. Thus, creating stages within the 4th phase. It appears this deadly game of cat and mouse will continue as long as US consumers seek illegal drugs. To this end, one expert suggested the “interdiction of synthetic drugs is so difficult that US policy-makers should focus resources on helping drug users find medical treatment instead of funding more law enforcement efforts.”[1]
Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/
Source: [1] https://www.npr.org/2024/05/31/nx-s1-4974959/medetomidine-overdose-fentanyl-sedative
Opioids: Grandparents’ New Role
WARNING: Medetomidine & Fentanyl Mix
PT: Reduce Pain & Boost Strength
Men / Retirement / Life Satisfaction
Processed Foods Impact on Health
Japanese Boxing / TBIs / Deaths
Books / CWA / Anit-union Charges
AI / Unions / Worker Protections
CDC Shooting / Remote Work / Union
Trump Cuts Challenge US Science Leadership
Trump Deploys Military on US Soil
DEI / Govt Pressure / Companies Retreat
NY Scaffolding: Relief vs Protection
Kareem’s Choice: A False America
St. Mary’s High School: Careers
KY Construction & Goodwill Train Workers
Canada’s Apprenticeship Strategy
Navigating Online Job Postings
Short Breaks Improve Creativity
Upcoming webinars, etc.
Construction Suicide Postvention (8/21)
NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact jgaal@moworks.org with related questions or comments.
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