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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