Louisiana Detects Cychlorphine in Two Fatal Overdoses, Warns on Naloxone

The Louisiana Department of Health alerted residents on October 5 that cychlorphine, an emerging synthetic opioid, has been detected in the state's drug supply, with at least two opioid-related deaths since December 2025 confirming its presence. The department said the number is likely to grow as surveillance and toxicology testing expand.

"Cychlorphine is a highly potent, emerging synthetic opioid identified in the illicit drug supply across the U.S. and Louisiana, including in counterfeit pills and drug mixtures," the department said in its alert.

Louisiana is the latest state to confirm the drug rather than merely warn about it. Cychlorphine has been linked to at least 55 deaths nationally across 2025 and 2026, according to the department, with the highest prevalence in Ohio, Texas and Tennessee.

A different class of opioid, not a fentanyl variant

Cychlorphine — also known as N-propionitrile chlorphine — is not fentanyl. It belongs to the benzimidazolone group of opioids known as "orphines" and is structurally related to brorphine, a compound that surfaced in the illicit supply several years ago, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have described cychlorphine as up to ten times more potent than fentanyl. It has no approved medical use in the United States.

That distinction matters for both detection and response. Dealers press the drug into counterfeit pills and mix it into other substances, and the drug's potency means a dose that looks ordinary can kill. Because it is not a fentanyl analog, the fentanyl test strips distributed by many harm reduction programs and public health agencies do not react to it, and routine hospital drug screens may miss it as well — leaving coroners and medical examiners as the front line for identifying new cases.

Researchers first detected cychlorphine in the U.S. in 2024. By March 2026, overdose or death investigations linked to the compound had been reported in at least 24 states, including a widely reported case in San Francisco, where 16-year-old Dante Lacourte died in April and toxicology revealed an opioid his mother had never heard of. The blog covered the East Tennessee cluster in March, when the Knox County Regional Forensic Center had connected the drug to at least 16 deaths and the DEA had identified it in 22 samples nationwide.

Naloxone still works — but may need repeating

Louisiana's guidance is straightforward for anyone witnessing an overdose: give naloxone, support the person's breathing, and be ready to dose again.

"Naloxone is effective with cychlorphine, though the potency of this synthetic opioid may require repeat dosing," the department said.

The alert directs bystanders to give naloxone and then provide rescue breaths, using a CPR barrier mask when one is available, and to re-administer naloxone if the person does not respond or their breathing slows again. Naloxone can be repeated without fear of harm, the department said. Signs of an opioid overdose include breathing that has slowed or stopped, unresponsiveness, and blue or purple fingernails and lips.

The department also pointed residents to where they can obtain the medication: its regional Local Governing Entities, parish health units and other distribution sites, and pharmacies, where naloxone can be purchased without a prescription. Harm reduction organizations have argued for some time that carrying two or more doses — and knowing that the second and third doses may be the ones that work — is now part of basic preparedness in a supply dominated by ultra-potent synthetics. Louisiana's alert makes that guidance explicit.

A supply problem that keeps producing new compounds

Cychlorphine's arrival in Louisiana follows a pattern the state has already weathered twice in recent years. Louisiana found the opioid in a supply that has shifted repeatedly as fentanyl, stimulants and novel synthetics trade places, and officials said they expect the picture to keep moving.

"There has been evidence of exposure to cychlorphine in Louisiana, and at least two opioid-related deaths have confirmed the presence of cychlorphine since December 2025," the department said. "We expect the data to evolve as surveillance and toxicology testing expand."

For people seeking treatment, opioid addiction treatment remains available through medication and counseling, and naloxone distribution through state and community programs has expanded access to the reversal drug in most states. Public health officials say the same message applies regardless of which compound is circulating: never use alone, start with a small amount, carry naloxone, and call 911 when someone is unresponsive.