By Fox23.com News Staff
OKLAHOMA CITY — The director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, Donnie Anderson, has issued a warning about a new and deadly synthetic opioid called Cychlorphine that was linked to at least one overdose death involving an 18-year-old from Yukon.
“Cychlorphine can be up to ten times stronger than Fentanyl. Though it is a synthetic opioid, this drug is extremely powerful, and Naloxone may not be effective in reversing an overdose. At the very least, it might take multiple doses to bring someone back from an overdose,” Anderson said.
More than 24 states have reported overdoses and deaths linked to Cychlorphine since it started to emerge in the U.S. in late 2024.
OBN said the drug, which is believed to be brought in from Europe and Asia, is often pressed into colorful pulls that can look like legitimate pharmaceuticals or with various stamps meant to resemble Ecstasy tablets.
“Criminal manufacturers commonly change their formulas to increase profit and potency, as well as evade new drug laws. We’ve seen modifications of fentanyl, multiple variations of the synthetic opioid, Nitazine, and we have already seen new forms of Cychlorphine in Oklahoma,” Anderson said.
OBN said it will work with the State Board of Pharmacy and the Oklahoma legislature to ban the drug and educate the public about it.
“With so many new and powerful drugs surfacing every day, there has never been a more dangerous time in our culture to be a recreational drug user. People don’t know what they are buying and they put their very lives at risk every time they use,” Anderson said.
