Teen Overdose Serves As Warning For Drug 10x Stronger Than Fentanyl

Dante Paul Lacourte was just 16 years old when his mother found him dead in his bed from an overdose. His body had turned blue, and black fluid was coming from his nose and mouth.

She initially assumed that fentanyl had killed her son. His toxicology results revealed that he had instead consumed cychlorphine, an emerging synthetic opioid estimated to be up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl.

The drug traces back to compounds developed in a Belgian lab during the 1960s as researchers searched for painkillers capable of easing discomfort in severe conditions such as bone cancer. 

The drugs, however, were never approved for medical use because they were considered “too strong and dangerous.” Their formulas, however, did not disappear.

Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University psychiatry professor, said the research was published in scientific journals and is “now available in the dark corners of the internet.”

“The worst possible way to find out a new drug is in the city is by an autopsy,” Humphreys said.

Lacourte’s death marked the first time cychlorphine appeared in a San Francisco medical examiner’s report.

Leo Wingate, Lacourte’s friend, told The New York Times that the teenager used drugs while struggling with depression and anxiety. Wingate was with Lacourte before he died and said he dropped him off at his apartment late that night after the two smoked marijuana.

Wingate said Lacourte often obtained drugs from San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood and would take pills despite knowing they could contain fentanyl. 

Lacourte’s mother repeatedly warned her son about the danger.

“It just takes one pill,” she told him.

Her warning became reality in April.

Police later used evidence from Lacourte’s phone and pills found in his bedroom to conduct undercover drug purchases and obtain arrest warrants.

Police arrested four people on numerous felony charges: Leander Pitts, 46; Starr Lamare, 39; Sharonnee Hyson, 44; and Nicholas Wallace, 46. The Tenderloin location where Wallace was arrested was about a 10-minute walk from where Lacourte died.

Authorities seized approximately 20,000 pills during the investigation. Police have also recovered pills testing positive for cychlorphine in unrelated arrests, suggesting that the drug is circulating through San Francisco’s illicit drug market. 

Shortly after Lacourte’s death, the Trump administration warned that cychlorphine could spread across the country.

Federal officials said the drug had been detected in at least 10 states, including California, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. At least 55 deaths have been linked to cychlorphine since 2025.

Cychlorphine is particularly difficult to combat because it can go undetected. The drug is not detected by standard fentanyl test strips or routine opioid urine screens.

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