City in Stanislaus County warns the public about fentanyl overdoses
Stanislaus County’s third-largest city issued a public health warning Tuesday about fentanyl, citing six deaths this year due to the dangerous street drug.
Ceres has seen a 35% rise in opioid-related emergencies in the past month, according to a post on the Police Department’s Facebook page.
In many cases, the Ceres residents who overdosed thought they were taking pills containing Xanax, oxycodone or Percocet, police said. Those medical emergencies are often referred to as fentanyl poisoning because the people didn’t know they were taking the potent drug.
In 2024, Ceres had a fatal overdose rate, for all drugs, of 28.4 per 100,000 population, which was less than half the rate in Oakdale (60.8 per 100,000). Modesto had the second-highest fatal overdose rate last year, at 49.1 per 100,000, followed by Waterford at 43.5 per 100,000 and Turlock at 33.7 per 100,000.
Preliminary data for the county showed a 20% decrease in illegal fentanyl mortality last year, compared to 2023, which is similar to a nationwide downturn. But the state said last week that the fentanyl crisis still is taking a toll on communities in California. The illegal drug was responsible for 550 deaths in Stanislaus County from 2018 through 2024.
Ceres police urged parents to talk with teenage children about counterfeit pills containing dangerous levels of fentanyl. The illegal drug, also mixed with drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, is 50 times more potent than heroin.
Community members can carry Narcan nasal spray, or naloxone, to stop an opioid overdose and save a life. Suspicious activity in Ceres may be reported to the Police Department at 209-538-5712.
