San Francisco Police Arrest 4, Seize 20,000 Pills in 16-Year-Old's Cychlorphine Death Probe
Updated
Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 14
San Francisco Police Arrest 4, Seize 20,000 Pills in 16-Year-Old's Cychlorphine Death Probe
3 articles · Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 14
Summary
Four suspects were arrested last week after San Francisco detectives traced a 16-year-old boy’s April overdose death to alleged pill suppliers using his phone and undercover drug buys.
Police seized 20,000 pills in Bayview-Hunters Point and additional oxycodone and cocaine in the Tenderloin, along with fentanyl, cash, a loaded firearm, a semiautomatic assault rifle and a pistol.
The victim, Dante Lacourte, died April 7 from cychlorphine — a synthetic opioid experts say is 10 times as potent as fentanyl and harder to detect with standard test strips.
FDA testing is being expedited on the seized pills to determine whether they contain cychlorphine, and police said pills from earlier unrelated arrests had already tested positive for the drug.
The case points to a broader threat in San Francisco, where more than 4,000 people have died of overdoses since 2020 and officials now fear cychlorphine is entering an already fentanyl-saturated street supply.