Graci Vlattas
Deadline Editor
A college campus is not without danger. Drugs and alcohol circulate even as the Sewanee Police Department works to keep us safe. Students carry on with the group mentality of having the best night out, which could and has ended in some people’s worst night. To some of us, it may seem silly to be hesitant around substances as common as party drugs on a college campus. What could go wrong? New research and recent overdoses and deaths around the country say there’s plenty to worry about.
A few weeks ago, Ole Miss, The University of Mississippi, experienced a great loss: On Sept. 21, two students from Ole Miss, 18-year-old Aidan Hamilton and 20-year-old Robert Strang, were found dead. The university then confirmed their deaths on Sept. 22. Though autopsies have been completed, toxicology reports are yet to come back. No other deaths have been confirmed.
Students are mourning the loss of these young lives, and their deaths have opened eyes to the possible dangers from the drugs available around our campuses. The drug cychlorphine, a synthetically-processed opioid, has been turning up across the United States. The drug is known to be about 10 times more powerful than fentanyl, an infamously dangerous opioid already 200 times more concentrated than heroin. According to the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration, multiple doses of naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan, are needed to be effective against this drug — even then, they may not work.
Opioids are a group of very strong natural, partially or fully synthetic drugs that attack certain nerves and parts of the brain. Medically, they are used to treat middling to intense pain, such as after a surgery. According to The National Library of Medicine, the drugs work by traveling through the blood, into the brain, and grab onto proteins connected to sensitive brain cells; this then sends dopamine to the brain, blocking out pain. However, when there is a lack of pain, the drug simply gives the user a high, one that can be abused. Stronger and more potent opioids, especially dangerous synthetic ones, are made with the underlying goal of getting the user addicted fast. Cychlorphine itself was crafted in a Belgian lab to create a drug that battles debilitating pain from diseases, but was not approved due to how strong it was. And when information on how that drug was created, its recipe, and more is published online, that information can fall to nefarious purposes in the black market.
The brain is then slowly trained into craving more and more of the drug.. As the mind and body build up a surface tolerance to opioids, the negative effects still impact the body’s health and overwhelm the body, leading to overdoses and death. One of the most dangerous opioids was fentanyl, a man-made synthetic drug that depresses the brain in seconds where even a “dusting” can result in a fatality, but that was until cychlorphine stepped onto the scene.
Deaths connected to cychlorphine have been popping up around the country since the fall of 2025. On Apr. 7, 2026 in San Francisco, California, 16-year-old Dante Paul Lacourte died due to a cychlorphine overdose, where his mother found him with black goo oozing from his mouth and nose and two doses of Narcan were ineffective. In early 2026, Director Chris Thomas of the Knox County Regional Forensic Center met with authorities and other boards to focus on cychlorphine, and later in June connected the drug to over 50 deaths in East Tennessee, according to WVLT 8.
In a February post by the center, Thomas focused the 90-minute-presentation on the drug cychlorphine and its tragic effects, and how the community can rally together to create support systems and safety measures to battle this drug. The post also stressed the importance of the public being informed on such an issue, saying “RFC officials have pointed out that Knox County isn’t necessarily a hotspot for the new drug but rather a hotspot for surveilling the new opioid. Styles, a regional overdose prevention specialist at MDC, said one of the best ways for groups to work more efficiently is to share data. Both he and Thomas noted that ‘to share data means to save lives.’”
Cychlorphine can affect any drug if the drug can be mixed with an opioid. . Just like fentanyl, cychlorphine affects the public when it is laced within other drugs. Dealers and minds from the black market take advantage of this.
At both scenes of the tragic deaths of the Ole Miss students Hamilton and Strang, the drug kratom was found, specifically Smax Pseudo-DHM tablets. Kratom, an originally natural chemical from an evergreen species, was banned in Tennessee as of July 1, 2026. As of the Beer Permits Office, the act of selling or distributing kratom is a class C felony. The kratom obtained by the students was synthetic, and there have been concerns that this drug could have been contaminated with another substance; both students were reported to obtain these kratom-containing tablets at the beer and tobacco store, Puffs Vape, in Oxford, Mississippi.
After the students’ deaths, a warrant was collected to continue the investigation. The father-and-son duo of 51-year-old Yahya Mohamed Mosleh and 18-year-old Islam Mohamed Mosleh were arrested on counts of possessing kratom with intent to distribute after undercover agents went in to buy kratom for the investigation. A search of the business revealed “over 500 units of synthetic-kratom related products and other narcotics,” according to The Daily Journal.
Although the pair are facing federal charges, no other information about their cases have been released. The fear is that these kratom-related substances could be contaminated with cychlorphine, and the public is diverting attention to these stronger opioids as a cause of more risk. There is hope though, where a non-student-involved overdose in Oxford ended in a life saved instead of lost. And in the face of unknown and scary circumstances, the best thing we can do is inform ourselves.
One factor that can easily affect action around drugs on college campuses is the education about it. In some states, like Maryland, Virginia, and Texas, updated their required curriculums to include opioids, their addictions, and how to deal with them. Students come to college without knowing their tolerance; without knowing where they got a specific substance from; without knowing how to spot an overdose in a friend.
Sewanee is aware of the current concerns and possible dangers involving drugs, marujana and other substances. UHS and Wellness Commons have coordinated multiple messages sent out to the student body. A notice about the synthetic opioid risks was crafted by Flora Walker, the Associate Director of UHS, and sent out by Leigh Collins, the Executive Director of UHS, going into the details of cychlorphine. The drug is especially dangerous because “it is chemically different from fentanyl, so fentanyl test strips won’t catch it.” UHS is urging students away from pills that are not personal and prescribed, to never “do a drug alone,” and to surround yourself with resources like Narcan and friends that can spot an overdose.
Walker and Collins close the email with a reminder about the University’s Good Samaritan Policy, a code in which if a student calls for help regarding another student’s safety with alcohol or drugs, the sobriety of either student will not be punished or questioned. “Students who call for help in an alcohol or drug emergency and stay with the person can receive amnesty from conduct charges for possession or use. Your call could save a life … Please take good care of yourselves and each other.” This policy provides students with protection and peace of mind, making it so asking for help is not penalized. When in doubt, call 911.
Dean Campbell provided The Sewanee Purple with how Greek Life is reacting. She wrote, “All the fraternity and sorority houses have Narcan and fentanyl strips.” Greek Life councils at Sewanee have been informed about the issue and have contacted their members on the matters of safety, and the national fraternities and sororities have reportedly begun contacting their chapters with warnings. They are collecting resources such as Narcan to prepare for any worse case scenario, and peer support communities like The Wick are stepping up with their own resources. In a recent peer support calendar email, resources from The Wick were listed:
“We provide free resources to any student on campus, including:
- Plan B
- Condoms (internal and external)
- Pregnancy tests
- Drink testing strips
- Lube
- Period products
- Narcan (we are in low supply currently, but are working on getting more!)”
There is support all over our campus. We are in this together and not alone.
As more and more danger arises around drugs and substances, it is not only our job to be extremely careful or hesitant, but to also inform ourselves on the issue. To learn the signs of danger and notice them before the moment can escalate can help prevent an even scarier situation and keep us safe. For now, we may not know how to detect a safe substance from an unsafe one, and we may need to hold back accordingly. And that is okay, too. We have a lot more to look out for now. Stay safe, Sewanee.