‘One pill can kill;’ Officials warn of drug 10 times more potent than fentanyl

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Health officials in the Miami Valley are tracking cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid that’s 10 times more potent than fentanyl.

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This comes after two students at the University of Mississippi died earlier this week.

Authorities found packages of the substance while investigating their deaths.

There have been fewer than 100 detections of cychlorphine in Ohio, but an Instagram account associated with students of the University of Dayton made a post Thursday urging students to be extra careful with anything not prescribed or given out by a pharmacy.

“One pill can kill,” Brian Mulcahy, assistant special agent with Columbus DEA, said.

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Mulcahy said there is a campaign at the DEA to promote drug awareness; he reiterated it when talking about cychlorphine.

“This synthetic opioid can be as much as 10 times more potent than fentanyl, which has really devastated our country in the last several years,” he said.

Cychlorphine is often laced into other drugs like fentanyl or designed to look like prescription medication.

Colleen Oakes is the director of communications and strategic initiatives with Montgomery County.

She said the county has not seen any cases yet, but they are keeping a watch out for it.

Oakes said it does not show up on drug test strips and multiple doses of Naloxone are needed to reverse it.

“You can go to most college campuses nowadays and be able to have access to Narcan and Naloxone, and that is key: that students look out for one another; they look out for their friends,” Mulcahy said.

A post made on Thursday by the Instagram account Barstool Flyers outlined the dangers of the drug.

Mulcahy said outreach across college campuses is important.

“The leading cause of death in our county for the age range of 18 to 45 is actually fatal drug overdoses,” he said.

News Center 7 reached out to the University of Dayton to see how they are warning students about the drugs.

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