Columbia, South Carolina – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is urging federal health officials to move quickly against a new synthetic opioid that he says is already linked to deaths in the region and could become an even larger public safety threat if left unchecked.
Wilson sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary asking the FDA to add cychlorphine to the list of controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act.
The request comes as officials raise alarms about the newly emerging drug, which Wilson said has been tied to one confirmed death in South Carolina and more than 40 deaths in neighboring Tennessee.
The attorney general described cychlorphine as a dangerous synthetic opioid with early reports pointing to alarming strength and fast effects.
“Early reports indicate that cychlorphine possesses extreme potency, rapid onset, and could be significantly more deadly than fentanyl. Given these characteristics, I urge the FDA to move swiftly toward the appropriate scheduling of this substance under the Controlled Substances Act,” Attorney General Wilson wrote.
The move Wilson is seeking would place cychlorphine under a clearer federal regulatory framework. According to his letter, that step would give law enforcement and prosecutors stronger footing when pursuing cases involving trafficking, distribution, or illegal manufacturing of the drug.
Wilson noted that South Carolina could try to bring cases under the state’s controlled substances analogue law, S.C. Code § 44-53-110.
However, he said that approach can require additional proof, including whether the chemical structure or physical effect is substantially similar to an already controlled substance. He also pointed to the Federal Analogue Act, 21 U.S.C. § 813, which allows certain drug analogues to be treated as controlled substances under federal law, but still requires separate findings about intended human consumption and other factors.
For Wilson, formal scheduling would remove some of those legal hurdles.
His letter warns that delays in scheduling synthetic opioids can create room for illegal markets to grow quickly. Once a drug spreads widely, he argued, it becomes much harder for law enforcement, prosecutors, and public health agencies to contain the harm.
Wilson also said the issue goes beyond criminal prosecution.
A clear federal classification, he wrote, would help public health agencies issue guidance, monitor patterns of spread and use, and coordinate responses before cychlorphine causes broader damage.
The threat, he said, reaches people struggling with substance use, first responders, healthcare workers, and the wider public.
“Our communities are continually facing the devastating consequences of synthetic opioid misuse. These drugs, often manufactured in China, are being distributed by cartels that do not care who they kill in their illegal efforts to turn a profit. Taking proactive regulatory action on cychlorphine now would represent a meaningful step toward preventing another wave of avoidable loss and give prosecutors the tools they need to hold these traffickers accountable,” Wilson wrote.
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The FDA’s controlled substance scheduling process is connected to federal drug policy under the Controlled Substances Act, which is outlined by the Drug Enforcement Administration at https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/csa.
Wilson closed his letter by thanking the FDA for its work on emerging drug threats and asking for prompt review of cychlorphine. His message was direct: act before the drug becomes another widespread source of avoidable loss.
You can read the letter here.
