KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — The Knox County Regional Forensic Center said preliminary toxicology tests show a new synthetic opioid is responsible for the deaths of 16 people since late October 2025.
The KCRFC said the drug is called N-Propionitrile Chlorphine, or cychlorphine for short. The drug is responsible for nine overdose deaths between October and December 2025. As of mid-January, the drug was also linked to seven more deaths.
The KCRFC said it first discovered the drug in Tennessee in late November 2025 when the substance appeared in a Roane County overdose death…