What you need to know about cychlorphine, a new synthetic opioid that is raising the alarm :: WRAL.com

CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) – South Carolina’s attorney general is alerting the public about a new synthetic opioid known as cychlorphine after college social media accounts across the country issued warnings.

On September 24, the Instagram account associated with Coastal Carolina University issued a warning to South Carolina students.

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office has issued a warning that synthetic opioids are often manufactured overseas and imported into the United States through drug cartels. They are designed to be more powerful, more addictive and harder to detect.

It’s poison, plain and simple. We see foreign adversaries and drug cartels working together to flood our communities with these deadly substances. They don’t care who they kill. Their goal is profit, and it costs American lives. SC Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement.

What is cyclophine?

Cychlorphin, also spelled cyclophine, is a new and emerging synthetic opioid.

It is structurally distinct from other opioids like fentanyl and cannot be detected by standard opioid test strips.

“You’re talking about ten times more potent than fentanyl,” said Paul Richardson, chief medical examiner at Conway Medical Center.

The medication causes behavioral changes and drowsiness. This can cause a person to stop breathing or have a heart attack.

Reversing a cyproheptadine overdose might require several doses of naloxone, or Narcan.

Since 2025, there have been 55 drug-related deaths, with a regional concentration in the South and Midwest with high prevalence in Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, according to Becker’s Behavioral Health.

Richardson hasn’t seen any overdoses in Conway yet, but he anticipates that could change soon.

“A few years ago, we would never have thought we would have all of these fentanyl derivatives that we see today,” he said. “So I’m sure if it’s not here already, it’s just a matter of time.”