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Seized carfentanil samples. Credit: Ohio AG
The state of Ohio is continuing to experience a rise in drug seizures involving carfentanil, while forensic labs have detected a new opioid compound in the state.
Through the first three quarters of 2025, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) forensic scientists have identified carfentanil in 199 items submitted to the bureau’s laboratory for testing.
Carfentanil’s presence peaked in Ohio in 2017, when BCI identified it in 1,119 drug samples. In subsequent years, there were sharp decreases, giving hope the fentanyl analog was retreating from the drug scene. In 2023, BCI noted only 9 seized samples containing carfentanil. That rose to 40 in 2024, but still well under the peak number. However, in 2025, that number has doubled to nearly 200, with two months of the year still remaining.
Carfentanil is an analog of the manmade opioid fentanyl. It is highly regulated and not intended or approved for use on humans. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. It only takes about 2 mg of fentanyl to be a fatal amount. Meanwhile, carfentanil is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. A lethal dose of carfentanil in humans would be at the nanogram level—much smaller than the 2 mg of fentanyl that poses fatal.
A new threat: N-propionitrile chlorphine
The BCI lab also recently identified a new opioid compound in Ohio, N-propionitrile chlorphine, also known as cychlorphine. The compound is a rare synthetic opioid with effects similar to fentanyl.
The drug was seized at the scene of a non-fatal overdose in the Butler County city of Fairfield. Several doses of Narcan were needed to revive the individual, according to first responders. The substance, a tan powder, also contained fentanyl and xylazine (also known as the zombie drug).
N-propionitrile chlorphine is an emerging drug that has not been identified frequently in seized drug samples in Ohio or the United States—yet. Other occurrences, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, include a July 2025 overdose in Tennessee and an April 2024 drug seizure in Florida.
To date, the BCI lab has evaluated roughly 65 distinct fentanyl compounds.
