CHICAGO — As deaths from a dangerous new drug believed to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl increase, more authorities are sounding the alarm.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is warning about cychlorphine after the substance was recently detected in the Chicago area, according to a report from ABC7 Chicago.
“This one scares me,” Laura Fry, executive director of the substance use harm reduction organization Live4LALI, told ABC7. She said testing street drugs for cychlorphine is extremely difficult.
“We have test strips for fentanyl, xylazine, benzodiazepines, medetomidine; they have not developed a test strip for this yet,” Fry said.
The news agency reports that so far cychlorphine has been identified three times in Illinois, including in one death. But experts say the drug is emerging across the country. The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education reports multiple cases have now been identified in nine states and three Canadian provinces.
As Emily’s Hope reported last month, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security issued a public safety advisory after cychlorphine was detected in the state and linked to a string of deaths in eastern Tennessee.
“The drug supply is completely a mess,” Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan told WXIX-TV. “It’s polysubstances, and it’s mixed with anything they can get their hands on.”
Synan said efforts to crack down on fentanyl have also shifted the illegal drug market, with dealers often combining multiple substances. While fentanyl-related overdose deaths have declined in some areas, he said the emergence of stronger synthetic opioids is deeply concerning.
“The only thing predictable with drug supply right now is how unpredictable it is,” Synan told WXIX-TV. “If we don’t know what’s in the drug supply or how to respond to it, how do we save lives?”
