(DNAINFO)  Nicholas Rizzi | May 24, 2017 — The city had a 22 percent increase in overdoses deaths so far this year, which NYPDofficials blamed on the introduction of the potent synthetic drug fentanyl to the streets.

So far 344 people have died from overdoses around the city this year, up from 283 from the same time in 2016, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at a City Council budget hearing Monday. There were also 271 people saved from ODs using the drug naloxone, Boyce said.

“It’s a crisis in the city that we’ve never seen before,” Boyce said at the hearing, adding that the number of overdose deaths from last year was more than twice the number of homicides and car crashes in the city.

Source: Overdose Deaths Up Nearly 22 Percent Citywide, Officials Say – New Dorp – DNAinfo New York