A vial of naloxone — known by the brand name Narcan — and an injector kit of the drug that is used as an antidote to overdoses. Credit: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via TNS.
Federal authorities are warning Ohio college students about cychlorphine — a new, synthetic opioid that can be 10 times more potent than fentanyl — as the drug has the highest prevalence in Ohio, as well as Texas and Tennessee.
Cychlorphine has been linked to at least 55 deaths nationally from 2025 to 2026, according to a press release from Addiction Policy Forum, which is a national nonprofit organization that works to eliminate addiction, according to its website. The drug has been found on its own, as well as combined with fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and counterfeit pills made to resemble prescription medications, including Adderall.
“We have a public health and safety problem here,” Janet Childerhose, research assistant professor in The Ohio State University College of Medicine, said. “We’re not talking about it enough because we’re just tending to talk about addiction and substance use disorder.”
According to a Franklin County Coroner press release, cychlorphine has not been identified in any Franklin County overdose deaths as of Oct. 5.
Surveillance and toxicology testing determined the drug’s presence in Ohio, according to the Addiction Policy Forum press release.
“The Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House reported 106 drug-supply reports across 10 states in 2025, with detections in all four U.S. Census regions,” the press release stated.
Fentanyl has already posed a deadly threat at Ohio State.
Starting on May 4, 2022, two Ohio State students, Tiffany Iler, 21, and Jessica Lopez, 22, died of fentanyl-related overdoses. Though it was unknown what specifically caused those overdoses, on May 5, Columbus Public Health officials reported an increase in overdoses caused by fentanyl-laced counterfeit Adderall pills around the campus area.
Cychlorphine overdoses may need multiple doses of naloxone, or the “opioid antagonist,” Childerhose said. Naloxone does not fully prevent overdoses, but it reverses the physiological effects of an overdose.
“Most people are not carrying naloxone,” Childerhose said. “There may not be naloxone nearby, particularly if you’re one person using alone. Your chances of dying from an exposure are very high. You would have to be with somebody or in a public place for someone to rescue you with naloxone.”
Given that the drug is at least 10 times more potent than fentanyl, it’s life-threatening in two ways, Childerhose said.
“One is it means it potentially has a faster effect in respiratory depression, meaning it could kill people faster,” Childerhose said.
“Secondly, if you already have a synthetic opioid in your body, let’s say your supply of coke includes fentanyl, but now also has cychlorphine. You might have a very potentiated set of respiratory depressants in your supply,” she said. “So again, you might have a much more rapid onset of respiratory depression and death.”
Childerhose said that the majority of people who use unregulated drugs — or substances manufactured, distributed and sold outside of official government oversight and safety standards according to stopoverdose.org — do not just use it because they depend on it.
“They’re using it socially,” Childerhose said. “They’re using it recreationally. They’re using it for fun. They’re using it to stay awake. They’re using it to go to sleep. People end up using it because they have pain. People are using illicit? drugs for all kinds of reasons. That will never stop. It will never end.”
Cychlorphine is not detected by common drug test strips or routine hospital opioid urine screens, the Addiction Policy Forum press release stated.
“My message is practice harm reduction [and] practice overdose risk reduction behaviors,” Childerhose said. “Never use alone. Take less to start with, you can always use more. Carry naloxone with you. Try to practice drug checking.”
“The problem with cyclorphine,” she said, “you’re going to be at greater risk, even if you practice these overdose risk reduction behaviors.”
Ohio State has two naloxone vending machines available for free across campus; one inside the RPAC, located at 337 Annie & John Glenn Ave., and one at King Avenue Methodist Church, located at 299 King Ave., according to a university website.
The university also offers free, no-prescription-needed naloxone at university pharmacies at the following locations:
- Student Life Student Health Services, at Wilce Student Health Center, 1875 Millikin Rd.
- Pharmacy at Doan Hall, at University Hospital, 410 W. 10th Ave., room 111
- Pharmacy at The James, at 460 W. 10th Ave.
- Pharmacy at East Hospital, at 181 Taylor Ave.
Childerhose said that there are hundreds of manufacturers in China that are producing synthetic opioids and synthetic drugs all of the time.
“It’s all about profit and creating drugs that have a psychoactive response that can be sold. But there’s no regard for human safety,” she said. “There’s no standardization. There’s no testing, and so we know it’s not going to end with cychlorphine.”
