New Synthetic Opioid, 10 Times Stronger Than Fentanyl, Devastates Families
Cychlorphine, an undetectable and potent drug, has emerged as a deadly threat across the United States.
A new synthetic opioid, cychlorphine, which is reportedly 10 times more potent than fentanyl, is causing devastation across American families. The drug, often undetectable in initial screenings, has surfaced in communities nationwide, leaving a trail of fatal overdoses.
Malisa Hepner, whose son Jake Scoufos died in December 2025 from an overdose of cychlorphine, is raising awareness about the drug's lethal nature. Hepner believed her 18-year-old son was purchasing prescription Percocet pills from a trusted source, unaware that they contained the powerful synthetic opioid. "You can't survive this," Hepner warned, describing the immense grief and loss caused by the undetectable drug.
IMAGE6 Jake Scoufos, 18, died from an overdose of a deadly new opioid called cychlorphine in December 2025
IMAGE3 Jake Scoufos believed he was buying prescription Percocet pills from a source he had known for years, said mother Malisa
Jake Scoufos, a graduate of Mustang High School, was described by his mother as having a passion for cars and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, with a smile that "really made everybody else smile." IMAGE4 The graduate of Mustang High School had a passion for cars and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu IMAGE5 Malisa Hepner said her son Jake had the 'kind of smile that really made everybody else smile'
His mother recounted that Jake took precautions to avoid becoming an overdose statistic. IMAGE7 Jake did everything a drug-using teenager reasonably could to avoid becoming an overdose statistic himself, said Malisa
Cychlorphine first appeared in the United States in 2024 and has since been linked to dozens of deaths in states from Tennessee to California. IMAGE8 Cychlorphine has claimed dozens of lives in states stretching from Tennessee to California since it first surfaced in America in 2024
In San Francisco, police seized hundreds of pills during raids following the death of a teenager from cychlorphine. IMAGE1 Dante Lacourte, 16, died from a Cychlorphine overdose in his mother's apartment in San Francisco's Lower Nob Hill neighborhood in April IMAGE9 San Francisco cops seized hundreds of pills in raids after the death of a teen from Cychlorphine
Malisa Hepner found her son unresponsive in his bedroom in Yukon, Oklahoma. IMAGE2 Malisa found her son unresponsive in his bedroom in Yukon, Oklahoma, propped up peacefully
The emergence of cychlorphine underscores the evolving challenges faced by law enforcement and public health officials in combating the opioid crisis, particularly with the introduction of new, potent synthetic drugs that are difficult to detect and even more dangerous than their predecessors.