A fresh fatal overdose threat involving two substances — one legal and one illicit — has emerged in the region, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said on Wednesday.
Cychlorphine is a synthetic opioid that is appearing in the illicit drug supply, Sorrells said.
It is potent and may be mixed with other drugs or pressed into counterfeit pills, making the drug supply even more dangerous, Sorrells said.
Kratom, the other drug about which the district attorney warned at a press conference, is a plant native to southeast Asia that traditionally has been consumed as a powder or tea. Concentrated or synthetic kratom products containing an opioid, 7-OH, can pose great risks and are available at smoke and vape shops, convenience stores, gas stations and online.
Some concentrated products are sold as pills.
“Being sold over a counter doesn’t make a product safe,” Sorrells said. “A store shelf is not a medical endorsement.”
Fentanyl remains the central narcotics overdose danger.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that 163 people died of a fentanyl overdose this year. The office has during the same time conducted inquests on 16 cases in with the cause was kratom overdose and has had one cychlorphine overdose death case.
A state law that went into effect in 2023 makes a person who knowingly distributes fentanyl to someone who dies from exposure to the synthetic opioid eligible for prosecution on murder.
Sorrells’ office has charged 36 defendants under the fentanyl-murder statute. Fifteen of those cases have either gone to trial or were resolved with negotiated pleas. Twenty-one cases are pending.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.