A new opioid has been found in Toronto's drug supply and users may not even know it | CBC News

"Toronto's Drug Checking Service said in a report last week that a new opioid, known as cychlorphine, was found in three fake pharmaceutical opioid samples collected in the city's downtown core and the west end between Oct. 25 and 28. One of the samples was expected to be hydromorphone, Dilaudid, another was expected to be oxycodone, OxyContin, and the third was said to be Percocet. But none contained their expected drug only cychlorphine, the report said."

"Karen McDonald, the executive director for Toronto's Drug Checking Service, said those using the opioid don't even know it. There appears to be an emerging trend where it (cychlorphine) is presenting in kind of fake pharmaceutical opioids that people aren't expecting it to be in, she told CBC on Tuesday. Cychlorphine is a synthetic opioid with unknown strength and effects, said Toronto's Drug Checking Service. Other related orphine opioids are considered to be as strong as fentanyl."

"The risk of overdose can vary depending on the strength of cychlorphine and how much of it is used, the report said. So far, none of the samples are associated with an overdose, said McDonald. Cychlorphine was first detected in an expected Percocet sample on Sept. 12, McDonald said, but Health Canada had detected it before in seized drug samples from law enforcement in Ontario."

Toronto's Drug Checking Service detected the synthetic opioid cychlorphine in three counterfeit pharmaceutical opioid samples collected in the downtown core and west end between Oct. 25 and 28. The samples were expected to be hydromorphone (Dilaudid), oxycodone (OxyContin) and Percocet, but each contained only cychlorphine. Cychlorphine has unknown strength and effects and related orphine opioids can be as strong as fentanyl, creating unpredictable overdose risk that depends on concentration and amount used. No overdoses have so far been linked to these samples. Cychlorphine was first detected in Toronto on Sept. 12 and Health Canada had previously found it in seized Ontario samples. Officials aim to raise awareness and preserve harm-reduction services.

Read at www.cbc.ca