SF Teen's Death Reveals New Opioid Stronger Than Fentanyl
Police say four suspects were charged after investigators linked the teen’s fatal overdose to a counterfeit pill network and seized more than 20,000 pills.
- On Monday, San Francisco police charged four suspects—Nicholas Wallace, Sharonee Hyson, Leander Pitts, and Starr Lamare—in a drug investigation stemming from 16-year-old Dante Lacourte's April death from cychlorphine.
- Cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid estimated to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl, killed Lacourte after he consumed multiple drugs; the substance is invisible to standard test strips and requires multiple Narcan doses to potentially reverse.
- Police arrested Wallace in the Tenderloin neighborhood and recovered 34 oxycodone pills and cocaine; officers later arrested Pitts and Lamare in Bayview-Hunters Point, seizing more than 20,000 counterfeit pills including Xanax and oxycodone, plus firearms and $2,267.
- Mayor Daniel Lurie vowed to "find it, track it, warn people about it" regarding new drugs; investigators confirmed pills recovered in earlier, unrelated arrests also tested positive for cychlorphine, indicating broader circulation.
- San Francisco plans to resume public reporting of wastewater testing results this fall, a strategy Stanford University psychiatry professor Keith Humphreys says could identify emerging substances before they cause fatalities.
28 Articles
28 Articles
New opioid cychlorphine raises alarm following death of San Francisco teen
By CBS Bay Area In July, San Francisco recorded 34 fatal overdoses – the lowest monthly total since drug deaths were recorded in 2020. Now, a new street drug could slow down the city’s road to recovery. On Monday, San Francisco police announced the four arrests of alleged dealers, booked on various drug and firearm
Calif.: San Francisco authorities arrest 4 linked to trafficking operation following 'cychlorphine' OD death of 16-year-old boy
San Francisco authorities have arrested four individuals linked to a trafficking operation following the tragic overdose death of a 16-year-old boy, an incident that has exposed the emergence of a deadly new synthetic opioid in the city's illicit drug supply.
New circulating opioid stronger than fentanyl linked to San Francisco teen's death; 4 arrested
Authorities say four have been arrested following the overdose death of a San Francisco 16-year-old, the first known victim of a synthetic opioid that officials say is more powerful than fentanyl and so new it's not currently considered illegal in California.
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