Colorado State University students are sharing warnings about cychlorphine, which may be hidden in other drugs. The DEA says it has not detected the emerging opioid in Colorado; the claim it is about 10 times as potent as fentanyl comes from lab data, not human-dose studies.
An August federal notice said cychlorphine had been confirmed in 225 law-enforcement encounters across 19 U.S. jurisdictions and was associated with at least 55 fatalities as of early 2026. The DEA issued a May advisory warning that illicit fentanyl may be mixed with cychlorphine and other emerging substances. In August, federal officials temporarily placed cychlorphine and three related synthetic opioids in Schedule I.
The DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division says it has not encountered cychlorphine in Colorado, Montana, Utah or Wyoming. Colorado officials say no overdose death has been specifically recorded as involving the drug, but caution that it is not part of standard post-mortem toxicology panels and could be missed unless testing is requested. Fentanyl test strips do not detect it; state health officials say naloxone can reverse its opioid effects, though repeat doses and emergency care may be needed.
