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PLACER COUNTY, Calif. (KTXL) — The Placer County Sheriff’s Office reported on Thursday a second fentanyl overdose in Colfax in the last two weeks and announced that 90 percent of the street drugs it confiscates contain fentanyl.

FOX40 reached out to the sheriff’s office to get a better understanding of the drug issues that Placer County is facing.

According to the sheriff’s office public information officer Angela Musallam, the sheriff’s office has been aware of fentanyl being laced into other drugs since 2019 and began closely monitoring the issue in 2020.

In order to track the percentage of arrests related to fentanyl, the sheriff’s office staff pulls every drug arrest record and looks through them to determine how many are connected to the drug, according to Musallam.

“I can tell you our deputies find fentanyl on traffic stops almost daily – that’s something we’ve noticed over the past two years,” Musallam said.

Between lab tests and confessions from end-users, the sheriff’s office has learned that fentanyl is “extremely prevalent” in the county, according to Musallam.

In communication with regional task forces, Placer County has learned that this trend is becoming more common across the region.

So far this year, the Placer County Coroner’s Office has reported 12 deaths that resulted from fentanyl overdoses, according to Musallam.

“I can tell you that number will go up as soon as we receive toxicology results back in the next week or two,” Musallam said.