Last week a Modesto man was arrested in Ripon while in possession of more than 30 grams of fentanyl.
When combined with the nearly 55 grams of fentanyl that were found at a home in Ripon on Parallel Avenue after officers served a search warrant, the seizure resulted in taking enough fentanyl off the street to kill every Ripon resident – at least twice.
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, two milligrams of fentanyl – a synthetic opiate that is between 30 and 50 times stronger than morphine and has become extremely cheap for drug cartels to produce and import into the United States – is enough to be a potentially lethal dose. That means that the nearly 85 grams that were seized had the potential to kill over 40,000 people – more than double Ripon’s current population.
And this isn’t the first time that law enforcement has encountered a large quantity of the illicit drug inside of Ripon’s city limits.
While the man arrested in this case – 63-year-old Modesto resident Melvin Freeman – was an area resident, deputies from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office have pulled over multiple drivers in the last year.
They appear to have simply gotten off of Highway 99 in Ripon and committed a moving violation that led to a traffic stop and the ultimate discovery of tens of thousands of counterfeit pills that could each be a lethal dose of the drug.
The city’s location along California’s arterial corridor means that drugs are likely moved through the city along Highway 99 routinely – with most of them coming across through Ports of Entry along the Southern border and then transported to urban centers where they are distributed to individual distribution networks.
Another Modesto resident – 30-year-old Ashley Murillo – was also arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.
As a result of the traffic stop Freeman was found to be in possession of more than 30 grams of fentanyl as well as a large stack of small bills, digital scales, small empty plastic bags, prescription pills, and an open container of alcohol – resulting in a number of felony charges.
The prevalence of fentanyl in common illicit street drugs has led to a massive increase in the number of overdoses across the country and spurred government agencies to normalize and even encourage the distribution of the overdose-reversing medication naloxone – which schools in California have even started stocking as a precaution. At one time only qualified medical professionals could use that medication.
Just recently the FDA announced that they’re going to make naloxone available over the counter so that people can have their own supply on hand to try and save the life of a loved one if they were to overdose.
San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas also recently championed a new ad campaign that centers around “one pill can kill” – hoping that education coupled with a heavy-handed approach at enforcement and prosecution of those perpetuating the crisis can stem the tide of preventable deaths.
To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
