Opioid deaths rose in state by 16 percent last year
The opioid epidemic in Massachusetts didn’t let up in 2016 as State Police investigated 877 deaths suspected of being caused by the powerful drug, a 16 percent increase from the year before that authorities blamed on an influx of fentanyl.
“It provided maybe an extra boost in the effects of heroin. As a result it became popular with those who use heroin,” Colonel Richard D. McKeon, State Police superintendent, said Thursday in a phone interview. “We’ve seen them chasing fentanyl.”
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