The Office of National Drug Control Policy released a drug threat notice in April about an emerging synthetic opioid, cychlorphine, appearing in the illicit drug market. Cychlorphine has been associated with 140 deaths across the United States and Canada, with 23 of those deaths in Texas, according to News 4 San Antonio. The drug has highest prevalence in Ohio, Texas and Tennessee, according to the ONDCP.
Cychlorphine is one of many synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, that have become prevalent in the drug market with varying consequences. In Texas, 4,447 people died of unintentional drug poisoning in 2024, with synthetic opioids accounting for around 39% of those deaths, according to the Texas Health and Human Services.
Over 105,000 substance use-related deaths occurred nationally in 2023 alone, an approximately 50% increase from 2015 to 2023. Synthetic drugs are lab-manufactured and more easily made than plant-derived drugs like heroin, according to the UN. Fentanyl is a common synthetic drug, and it is “50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine,” according to the CDC.
Longhorn Chicks and Barstool Longhorns co-created an Instagram post in September warning the UT community about cychlorphine, which is more potent than fentanyl, according to CNN.
Many drugs within the illicit drug market are adulterated, meaning they’re cut or modified in a way that makes the substance contain elements outside of what it’s labelled as. Cychlorphine and fentanyl are not the only drugs used as adulterants. Xylazine, a veterinary sedative, along with many other potent substances, have also been found in the drug supply. These substances can be found in heroin, cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy and counterfeit prescription drugs, according to Green House Treatment Center.
Kasey Claborn, director of the Addiction Research Institute at UT, said that she was not surprised to hear about cychlorphine, as there are constantly new synthetic drugs within the market.
“It’s kind of like playing Russian roulette when you take drugs (and) you don’t know where they came from,” Claborn said. “The drug supply is the most dangerous we’ve ever seen in the history of the United States.”
One contributor to the drug supply is pressed pills, also called counterfeit pills, which are illegally manufactured and often made to mimic real prescription drugs, such as Xanax or Adderall. These pills often contain fentanyl or other synthetic drugs, according to Forest Behavior Health.
Daniel Sledge, a licensed paramedic and the academic detailer for the UT Austin College of Pharmacy’s PhARM Program, said that people who are making these pressed pills are not using precise lab equipment that a pharmacy would use. With a drug like fentanyl, which is measured in micrograms, it doesn’t leave “that much wiggle room between a dose and an overdose.”
Overregulation may be another reason the current drug supply has become increasingly dangerous. This can be explained through “The Iron Law of Prohibition,” a term coined by Richard Cowan in 1986, which states that as law enforcement becomes stricter, the potency of prohibited substances increases, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
During the Prohibition era, there was a decrease in people consuming beer and an increase of distilled spirits and fortified wine, which are more potent, according to the CATO Institute. This follows a similar pattern to what’s happening with the illicit drug supply.
“(It’s the) whack-a-mole effect of prohibition,” Sledge said. “If you’re like, ‘We’re gonna crack down on x substance,’ it’s not going to make people stop using drugs. It’s just going to make them use different drugs … (and) oftentimes the supply shifts to something that’s more harmful.”
According to Sledge, people are oftentimes unaware of how harmful the drug market is, which puts them at risk for an acute overdose. He said most people who survive nonfatal overdoses wouldn’t even be classified as having a substance abuse disorder.
While the illicit drug supply continues to get more dangerous, harm reduction strategies aimed at keeping people safe are becoming more prevalent. One method of harm reduction is Narcan, which can be found in a nasal spray and can reverse the effects of opioids in 2-3 minutes.
SHIFT, a UT organization that runs drug education program Operation Naloxone with the College of Pharmacy, aims to educate the UT community through Narcan education and training.
Operation Naloxone has 14 distribution sites on campus, which can be found on SHIFT’s map. Since 2015, around 12,515 Narcan doses have been distributed and 4,300 students, faculty and staff have taken the Operation Naloxone training, according to SHIFT Director Kate Lower.
Lower said everyone should get educated on Narcan, regardless of whether they think they would need it. She hopes that over time, people can start having different conversations around carrying Narcan, as there is stigma surrounding it in relation to drug use.
“It can save someone’s life,” Lower said. “And I don’t think we have that same kind of reaction with (automated external defibrillator) machines or EpiPens or things like that, right?”
Jiana Kuruvilla, a health and society sophomore, started carrying Narcan a year ago after she walked by people on campus passing it out for free.
“It’s so important to carry (Narcan) because you never know what can happen,” Kuruvilla said. “I feel like, just like you carry a bandaid … you should also carry (Narcan) as well, just in case.”
Narcan nasal spray should be sprayed into a person’s nostril while lying down. If the drug is administered to someone who doesn’t have opioids in their system, there will be no adverse effects, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Even if an individual administered Narcan successfully, it is important that a trained professional can get to the scene and assess the individual who had an overdose. It’s possible that the individual could’ve taken a contaminant that Narcan won’t reverse, according to Healthline. There’s also a chance that the Narcan could wear off too soon, causing another overdose.
Texas House Bill 1694, also called the Jessica Sosa Act, went into effect in September 2021 and provides a legal defense for defendants seeking assistance with a potential overdose when there is a small amount of substances involved. However, this bill has multiple provisions that can exclude people from immunity, which can make them hesitant to call for assistance.
If someone calling for an overdose has been previously convicted of a felony or has sought help for a different overdose within the past 18 months, or if police were already on the scene to make an arrest or search the premises, then the caller can still be charged for having a small amount of substances. Sledge said that is an issue because a lot of people who call for these overdoses have a history with drug charges.
“Those laws don’t discourage people from … using drugs, but it does discourage people from calling 911 in a medical emergency, which is harmful and creates these tragic outcomes,” Sledge said.
Sledge said that if people are worried about calling 911 due to law enforcement, all they need to do is offer enough information to get an ambulance at the scene.
“(Say) ‘My friend is having trouble breathing.’ … If you’re at a party and there’s people screaming or something like that in the background … step outside so it’s quieter,” Sledge said. “You can get an ambulance there. … Again, just tell EMS what’s going on.”
Claborn urges people to be smart if they do decide to use substances.
“If you’re going to use, use with friends, don’t use alone and have a safety plan in place,” Claborn said. “You know, ‘What are we going to do in case somebody overdoses?’ Have those conversations. That way, when you’re using, you can actually be safe.”
Other harm reduction methods include drug testing strips. However, all drug testing strips are considered “drug paraphernalia” under the Texas Controlled Substances Act, making them illegal in Texas, according to the Texas Constitution and Statutes.
Multiple attempts have been made to reverse this law. Texas House Bill 1644, which would legalize both fentanyl and xylazine test strips, was passed unanimously in the House in April 2025. However, the bill stalled in the Senate. Texas is one of five jurisdictions that continue to ban fentanyl testing strips.
There aren’t testing strips available for cychlorphine yet, and the drug does not show up on standard fentanyl testing strips, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Cychlorphine, along with other new synthetic drugs in the illicit drug supply, are constantly appearing, and they aren’t able to be matched with drug testing equipment at the same rate, according to the National Center for Biotechnology.
“If you’re taking a pill or if you get pills that are not from the pharmacy, just assume it’s going to have fentanyl or some other high potency synthetic opioid in it,” Sledge said.
