The latest chart of overdose deaths in Massachusetts shows a climbing blue line labeled “fentanyl.” Pick a spot on that line in mid-August and picture a big, affable 40-year-old man from Everett named Joe Salemi. He overdosed at his mom's home after almost 25 years of heroin use. Salemi had OD'ed before, but this time, his 70-year-old mother couldn't revive him. Salemi's brother, Anthony, says he was pretty sure, at the time, that there must have been something besides heroin in the syringe that contained his brother's last hit.
"I knew, deep in mind, it was going to be the stuff that everyone's talking about now, fentanyl, because I never thought straight heroin would kill him," said Salemi.
