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In recent weeks, a new synthetic opioid known as cychlorphine has raised significant concerns across several states, being linked to numerous overdoses and identified as more potent than fentanyl.
Cychlorphine belongs to an emerging category of synthetic opioids infiltrating the illegal drug market in the United States. This substance has never received approval for human use. Similar to fentanyl, cychlorphine is often mixed with other illegal drugs. However, it poses a unique threat as it cannot be detected with standard fentanyl test strips.
Despite its potency, Narcan is still considered effective in reversing overdoses caused by cychlorphine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) commented on the situation, noting that “N-propionitrile chlorphine was first identified in Florida by a DEA lab in April 2024. As of February 2026, DEA labs have detected this substance in 22 different samples.”
In East Tennessee, cychlorphine has been associated with 19 overdose fatalities. Meanwhile, the Gallia County Health Department in Ohio issued an overdose alert this week, and the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security released a public warning about the substance last month.
The Center for Forensic Science Research & Education (CFSRE) issued a public alert at the end of January on the spread of cychlorphine, or N-propionitrile chlorphine.
“In vitro pharmacology data show this drug to be approximately 10x more potent than fentanyl,” the CFSRE’s alert stated. “The positivity of N-propionitrile chlorphine, specifically in fatal drug overdoses, has increased since mid-2025.”
At the time of the CFSRE’s alert, cychlorphine had been detected in New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, Washington, Nevada and California.
“Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than that of heroin, and then the cychlorphine is 10 times more powerful than fentanyl,” Jim Joyner, president of the Ohio Association of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Counselors, told The Hill. “So, you’re talking about very minute amounts of the drug that could be potentially lethal.”
As Joyner explained, chronic opioid addicts pursue substances that promise a stronger high just to feel “normal,” and reports of a newer drug causing overdoses actually attract addicts to it.
“This defies natural survival instinct,” said Joyner. “Why do people do it? Well, you got to understand what addiction is. It’s a brain disorder. It’s not a choice, not rational. It’s a distortion on the environment how brain functions that results with repetitive use of very powerful psychoactive substances.”
Synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl, have become a pressing issue in the U.S. According to the World Health Organization, about half of all opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2019 were a result of synthetic opioids.
According to addiction specialists, it’s unclear where cychlorphine is originating, but it’s not hard for labs to pump it out.
“Most of these are coming from either South Asia, China, places where there’s a lot of chemical supply companies,” said Timothy Wiegand, president-elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
“It isn’t coming just like somebody in their bathroom, making it like methamphetamine, from a couple of products or in the U.S. It’s coming from international, multilevel drug distribution networks, some of the cartels or other isolated networks,” added Wiegand.
Just this week, the U.S. and China got into a spat at a United Nations drug meeting, with the former accusing the latter of failing to stem the sale of precursor chemicals for fentanyl.
“We know that China’s weak export controls and lax enforcement allow its chemical industry to foster friendships with the [drug] cartels,” Sara Carter, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a delivered statement.
“It is regrettable that just now the U.S. delegate again made remarks that do not reflect reality,” Chinese envoy Gao Wei said in his own statement.
Wiegand noted that while some cychlorphine might also be reaching people through the dark web, most people buying opioids off the street probably aren’t even aware they’re taking this highly potent opioid.
While the drug has been circulating for at least the past year, Joyner speculated that cychlorphine has only recently come to public awareness because it wasn’t being tested for.
Wiegand said the recent cluster deaths also contributed to the rise in public attention.
“The main thing is that this is part of the new wave of synthetic opioids. This is not going away,” he said. “It’s not going away. It’s not going to replace fentanyl. Fentanyl is not going away. Fentanyl is a very easy chemical to make, and tons of money, billions and billions of dollars involved in synthesizing this, even with putting restrictions on it.”