Fentanyl deaths climb to a new high in Stanislaus County. Which cities had the most deaths?
Stanislaus County continues to see a rising death toll from the fentanyl crisis that grips California and the nation.
The county had 135 deaths caused by fentanyl overdose or poisoning in 2023, up from 128 the previous year, according to new data released Thursday by county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services.
The total number of fatal overdoses from all drugs climbed to 206, a 17% increase over 2022. The Coroner’s Office is still going through the process of verifying overdose deaths in the county in 2023, so the numbers could grow.
County officials had charted a slower rate of fentanyl deaths the first half of last year, but a troubling surge of overdoses occurred later in the year.
By far, most of the fatal overdoses from illegal drug use occurred in Modesto. The county’s largest city had 127 deaths caused by fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs. Turlock had 18 deaths, Oakdale had 14, Ceres had 13, and 34 overdoes deaths were in cities with fewer than 10 fatalities.
Because of confidentiality rules, local agencies don’t release data for cities with a small number of cases.
While the highly lethal illegal fentanyl accounted for 65% of the fatal overdoses in the county last year, methamphetamine was confirmed in 37 deaths. Other opioids were responsible for 17 deaths, and 11 were tied to other drugs.
Xylazine, a drug increasingly mixed with fentanyl sold on the streets, was confirmed in at least three deaths last year. County BHRS did not release updated numbers Thursday for deaths related to xylazine.
The county has tried to combat the fentanyl crisis with law enforcement, criminal justice, education at schools and prevention activities in the community.
Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, unveiled bipartisan legislation Feb. 2 to reauthorize High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas across the nation and increase annual funding by $22 million for multi-agency drug interdiction efforts and prosecution. Stanislaus and neighboring counties are part of the Central Valley HIDTA.
Conservative state lawmakers representing the Northern San Joaquin Valley also have said they’ll promote or support legislation this year with stronger penalties for fentanyl trafficking.
