VIDEO – WHAT CAN WE DO? –
April 23, 2026 – “Dilworth Center continues to see significant numbers of our patients having taken synthetic opioids. Fentanyl is a known problem that we have been dealing with for years. Cychorphine, it’s one of the newer synthetic opioids available in the black market. The concern is that this drug is approximately 10 times stronger than fentanyl. We’re already seeing overdoses in Tennessee, in South Carolina. If an overdose is suspected call emergency services immediately and administer naloxone. Because of the drug’s extreme potency multiple doses of naloxone may be required.”
“And if you get just a little bit too much, you’re dead. My son died from half a pill,” Brown said.
Officials say the drug is being manufactured and mixed with other substances before being sold illegally. Because of its potency, it may require more naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, to reverse an overdose.
Laird’s sister, Bea Ramirez, worries about how easily drugs can spread, especially among young people.
“When I went to public school, it was horrible. In class, in the bathroom, during lunch. Anywhere you go, there’s going to be at least four people in a classroom at a time that have drugs on them,” Ramirez said.
While cychlorphine was not responsible for Laird’s death, his family says the risks tied to synthetic opioids are only growing.
“Just one bad decision is enough to kill anybody, and no one realizes how life threatening that can be. All these drugs, they’re unpredictable, and they’re potent, and you just can’t assume any more because it’s not an ‘if”… it’s a ‘when,’” Ramirez said.
Brown now urges families to take precautions that could save lives.
