The death of a 16-year-old boy has health officials warning Americans about a powerful and deadly synthetic drug picking up steam across the country.
The teen, identified in a New York Times report as Dante Lacourte of San Francisco, died in April after overdosing on cychlorphine, a designer drug that made its appearance in the United States in 2024. Like fentanyl, it is often mixed with other drugs like methamphetamine, bromazolam and cocaine, without users knowing.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issued a threat notice about the synthetic drug in April, calling it "up to ten times more potent than fentanyl" and saying it was linked to 55 deaths nationwide between 2025 and 2026.
The majority of these confirmed overdoses were
in Tennessee, where the Knox County Regional Forensic Center has been at the forefront of tracing and reporting the drug's impact. In April, the center said that it had linked cychlorphine to at least 41 deaths in the state across 11 counties between July 2025 and February 2026.
"What’s especially troubling is that cychlorphine may have been circulating far longer than we know," Chris Thomas, chief administrative officer and director of the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, said in a statement at the time. "It has never been more dangerous to take street-level drugs than right now."
In July, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a temporary order categorizing cychlorphine as a Schedule I substance, the same level as drugs like heroin, LSD and ecstasy. It's so new, however, that state and federal policy has yet to catch up.
Arrests were made in the Lacourte case on Sept. 8 and 9, when San Francisco police apprehended four suspects and seized over 20,000 counterfeit pills after a "sweeping investigation that began with the fatal overdose of a 16-year-old San Francisco resident in April." Officials accused the suspects of being the "source of the pills" Lacourte took.
Still, the threat from the drug not only remains but appears to be growing, according to health officials. Here's what to know.
What is cychlorphine (N-Propionitrile Chlorphine)?
N-Propionitrile chlorphine, also known as cychlorphine, is a synthetic or chemically manufactured opioid that global health officials began tracking in mid-2024. Like fentanyl, another highly potent synthetic opioid, it is used recreationally on its own or mixed with other drugs like heroin.
It was first documented by CFSRE as a designer drug, or a substance that is engineered to mimic the effects of an established drug (like morphine, for example) while technically skirting legal regulations and established drug tests. It is part of an emergent subclass of synthetic opioids often called “orphines" or "orphine analogues," which are often distributed in powder or tablet form. Early reports have traced the drug's origins to China, from which it likely spread to Europe and beyond.
Like other synthetic opioids, which are a leading cause of overdose death in theUnited States, its potency means it can rapidly overwhelm the respiratory system in even very small doses, quickly rendering a person unconscious or unable to breathe.
Experts are still learning about cychlorphine and its effects. Its novelty means it is harder to detect – most toxicology tests administered by hospitals, first responders and law enforcement are not equipped to catch it, according to the Addiction Center. Its strength means that the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses, naloxone, more commonly known as Narcan, may not be as effective and may require several doses to work.
The CFSRE said in its January public alert that the United States, Canada, Europe and Oceania have seen an "alarming increase in deaths" linked to synthetic opioids; cychlorphine, specifically, has been detected in a notably increased number of fatal drug overdoses since mid-2025.
Early data from testing on samples showed the drug to be approximately 10 times more potent than fentanyl, according to CFSRE and ONDCP, though how accurately this translates to real-world use is still unknown.
Where in the US has cychlorphine been found?
Health officials are still developing tools and techniques to track the prevalence of newer orphines and other synthetic drugs. In April, ONDCP had confirmed the presence of cychlorphine in 10 states through 2025, including California, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. As of January, CFSRE has also detected it in Nevada and New York.
Reports are most concentrated in the South, Midwest and Northeast regions, per the ONDCP, with the greatest prevalence in Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Chicago's Cook County reported seven deaths in 2026 as of July 13, while Knox County told local newsit had 50 related overdose deaths as of June.
Local and state governments in Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have also issued warnings alerting the public to the known presence of cychlorphine in the region.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Teen's death sparks warning over opioid stronger than fentanyl
