Denmark detects highly potent opioid cyclorphin in two cases

Denmark has detected the illegal synthetic opioid cyclorphin in two cases, including in a deceased person, DR reports. The Danish Health Authority has warned that the substance can cause acute poisoning in very small amounts.

Cyclorphin was found during a drug raid and during an autopsy. Jørgen Bo Hasselstrøm, a senior researcher and forensic chemist at Aarhus University’s Department of Forensic Medicine, carried out the examination of the deceased person.

The substance acts in the same way as morphine and fentanyl but belongs to a newer group of opioids that has reached Europe in recent years. Hasselstrøm said it was at least as potent as fentanyl, which is around 100 times stronger than morphine, and may be even stronger according to initial studies.

He said the small difference between a dose that produces a high and one that becomes dangerous makes cyclorphin particularly difficult to use safely. An overdose can cause a low pulse, low blood pressure, nausea and drowsiness, followed by suppressed breathing and death from suffocation.

Cyclorphin can be taken through e-cigarettes, as snorted powder, by injection or on so-called stamps placed under the tongue. Hasselstrøm said its spread in Denmark remains limited, but warned that users cannot know what illegal drugs contain or how strong they are.