More than half the people who died in Massachusetts last year from an opioid overdose had fentanyl in their blood, according to a new report from the state’s Department of Public Health.
The report confirms anecdotal evidence from law enforcement that drug dealers are lacing heroin with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic painkiller, and the consequences are frequently lethal.
Last February, at the urging of Attorney General Maura Healey and local prosecutors, state lawmakers criminalized fentanyl trafficking with sentences up to 20 years in prison.
" It is the exact kind of tool that police and district attorneys, our office, and others in law enforcement need," said Healey.
The state’s quarterly report on opioid overdoses included for the first time data on fentanyl, and the use of the overdose-reversing drug, known by the brand name Narcan. It is estimated the emergency medical service teams administered Narcan almost 13,000 times in 2015.
