In a report released on Monday, the state medical examiner found that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is killing more and more people in Connecticut.
In the first half of 2017, 322 people died of overdoses involving fentanyl – nearly twice as many as the entire year of 2015.
Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and is usually cut into other drugs like heroin, cocaine or prescription opioids. Even a small amount can be deadly.
The medical examiner says heroin deaths are still increasing, but not as quickly as they had in past years.
The report also found that fewer people died from the prescription drug oxycodone in the first half of 2017 than in the same time period last year.
