Episode #130 High Truths on Drugs and Addiction with Sai Oicata on First Responder Response to Chemicals and Drugs

How should law enforcement, fire, hazmat, and hospitals respond to exposure to chemicals and drugs. Should hazmat to sterilize the area where a bag of fentanyl is found? Should we train for fentanyl exposure like we train for a tornado Diaster? Is fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction Do law enforcement officers suffer overdoses or a nociebo reaction? Nociebo is the cousin of Placebo. Placebo is a sugar pill that makes you feel better, Nociebo is the pill that makes you feel sick. These are the things I discuss with Sai Oicata.  

Sai Oicata is an emergency preparedness planner for the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and paramedic for the National Disaster Medical System. Inspired by domestic and foreign catastrophic events, her education and career are aimed at strengthening the public safety community and bridging the communication gap in disaster preparedness. Sai holds an undergraduate degree in Emergency Management from the University of Central Florida and actively pursuing an MPH with concentration of Global Disaster Management, Humanitarian Relief and Homeland Security from the University of South Florida. As co-coordinator of the East Central Florida Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), her current projects include a case study in partnership with Harvard Medical School on the pre-hospital and hospital response to sodium nitrite suicides and a law enforcement chemical exposure awareness program focusing on accidental opiate exposure.