Overdose? Call 911, give naloxone, and stay with them. More than one dose may be needed.

cychlorphinetest

Public information · Last reviewed 24 September 2026

The opioid your fentanyl strip can’t see.

Cychlorphine is a new synthetic opioid turning up in overdose deaths across the United States and Canada. It belongs to a different chemical family from fentanyl, so fentanyl and nitazene test strips come back negative even when it is there.

Fentanyl strip · sample with fentanyl
C T
Detected
Fentanyl strip · sample with cychlorphine
C T
Reads negative
On a fentanyl strip, one line means fentanyl was found and two lines mean none was found. Cychlorphine doesn’t react with the strip, so the result looks like a clean sample.
~10× more potent than fentanyl in laboratory assays CFSRE
49 deaths cited in the DEA’s scheduling order Federal Register
0 fentanyl or nitazene strips expected to detect it UNODC

01

What cychlorphine is

Cychlorphine is the street name for N-propionitrile chlorphine. It is a benzimidazolone opioid, part of a family researchers call the orphines, which also includes brorphine. It acts on the same brain receptor as heroin and fentanyl, but its structure is unrelated to either.

The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) first identified it in 2024. By early 2026 it had been found in fatal overdoses in at least eight US states and three Canadian provinces. It usually shows up mixed into other drugs, so people rarely know they have taken it.

On 27 August 2026, the DEA temporarily placed cychlorphine in Schedule I, alongside three related compounds. The United Nations drug agency counts at least eleven orphines reported worldwide, and new ones keep appearing.

02

Why fentanyl strips miss it

A test strip is a small antibody test. The antibody is built to grab one molecule’s shape. Fentanyl strips grab fentanyl and its close relatives. Nitazene strips grab nitazenes. Cychlorphine fits neither shape, so it passes through without leaving a mark.

  • A negative fentanyl strip does not rule out cychlorphine. The sample can still contain a very potent opioid.
  • Nitazene strips don’t cover it either. Orphines are a separate family.
  • Hospital urine drug screens usually miss it. Routine opioid screens are built around morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl.
  • Strips made for cychlorphine are only starting to appear. One US company lists one on pre-order. No independent accuracy data has been published yet.

03

Where to get a sample tested

The reliable way to identify cychlorphine today is a laboratory test using mass spectrometry. These services can do that:

Mail-in lab UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab Free, anonymous mass-spectrometry testing for samples sent by harm reduction programs, clinics and drug user unions. Results are posted online by sample number. streetsafe.supply → Find a local service Drug Checking Directory A public list of drug checking programs across North America, some with same-day spectrometer testing. harmreductionlab.com →
For clinicians Specialty toxicology panels Standard drug screens won’t flag it. Reference laboratories such as Aegis Sciences and NMS Labs test for cychlorphine on designer and novel opioid panels. Order these when the clinical picture fits an opioid and the routine screen is negative.

Laws on drug checking equipment differ from state to state. This page gives information only and does not sell testing products.

04

If someone may be overdosing

  1. Call 911. Many states have Good Samaritan laws that protect people who call for help during an overdose.
  2. Give naloxone (Narcan). There is no published evidence that naloxone fails against cychlorphine. Because it is so potent, be ready to give a second dose if breathing doesn’t return after 2–3 minutes.
  3. Support breathing and stay. Do rescue breaths if you know how. Put the person on their side and stay until help arrives, because naloxone can wear off before the opioid does.
Never Use Alone800-484-3731 SAMHSA Helpline800-662-4357 Crisis Lifeline988

05

Sources

  1. CFSRE NPS Discovery: Increase in fatal overdoses linked to N-propionitrile chlorphine (cychlorphine)
  2. DEA temporary scheduling order, Federal Register 2026-17531 (27 Aug 2026)
  3. UNODC: Increasing nitazene and orphine analogues and the implications for test strips (Feb 2026)
  4. UNODC: The emerging threat of cychlorphine (May 2026)
  5. ACMT ToxIC NOSE Report #22: Cychlorphine, an emerging opioid
  6. Journal of Pain Research: Cychlorphine and its implications for overdose recognition and management
  7. Filter: No, cychlorphine has not proved Narcan “ineffective”
  8. Aegis Sciences: Emerging threat, N-propionitrile chlorphine