By admin 
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK/KLRT) — Authorities and health officials in Arkansas are warning of a powerful new synthetic opioid that has been linked to a recent death in the state.
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The drug, known as cychlorphine, is about 10 times more potent than fentanyl, Dr. Theodore Brown, the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory Director and Chief Medical Examiner, told Nexstar’s KLRT.
Also known as N-propionitrile chlorphine, the drug is not approved for medical use in the U.S., according to health experts, and is manufactured illegally before being mixed into other substances or pressed into counterfeit pills. The Drug Enforcement Administration previously told Nexstar’s The Hill that cychlorphine was first reported by a DEA laboratory in Florida in April 2024.
Cychlorphine has been linked to more than 40 overdose deaths in Tennessee, while authorities in Ohio and Kentucky have issued alerts about the opioid in recent months. It has also been detected in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Washington, Nevada, and California.
Brown said the drug first came to the attention of Arkansas investigators earlier this year after a young man was found dead in his bed. White tablets discovered at the scene appeared to be oxycodone, but testing later determined the pills were counterfeit and contained cychlorphine.
“That tablet was an illicit or fake tablet, and that tablet directly caused my patient’s death,” Brown said. “We know that one pill can kill. If you consume a pill that does not come from a licensed professional, that does not come from a pharmacy, that pill cannot be trusted.”
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Counterfeit pills can look so similar to real prescription pills that it can be hard for experts to identify them, Brown added.
Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said the growing presence of emerging synthetic drugs is a major concern for first responders.
“If the public doesn’t know and we keep this a secret, then we’re doing an injustice to Arkansans,” Hobbs said. “So, we have to put this stuff out as a warning.”
Officials also warn that cyclorphine may require multiple doses of naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, to reverse an overdose. Brown said awareness and prevention remain critical as counterfeit pills continue to spread through social media, online platforms and street sales.
“It is absolutely time that we sound the alarm,” Brown said. “Less than one pill can kill.”