San Francisco police arrested four people Friday who are accused of distributing a dangerous new synthetic opioid linked to the fatal overdose of a 16-year-old local student.
Police Chief Derrick Lew said Monday that the suspects were taken into custody in connection with the April death of Dante Lacourte, who overdosed on cychlorphine, a potent opioid that has recently emerged in San Francisco’s illicit drug supply.
Authorities said cychlorphine is known for its extreme potency and unpredictable presence on the black market. The substance was found in a counterfeit pill that Dante took, police said.
Lew said the San Francisco Police Department would continue pursuing leads developed during the investigation and would make additional arrests if warranted.
“Our investigators will stop at nothing to ensure deadly narcotics are taken off our streets and individuals who peddle them are arrested and held accountable,” he said.
Dante’s mother, Christina Lacourte, told The New York Times that she found her son dead in his bedroom after going to wake him for school. “It just takes one pill,” she said.
Investigators connected the four suspects to Dante’s death after following evidence found in his room. Police first identified the pills involved, then examined the teenager’s phone and traced the suspected source of the drugs.
Undercover officers later contacted the alleged dealers and purchased pills containing the deadly substance as part of the investigation.
Police then raided three San Francisco residences last week, seizing about 20,000 pills believed to contain cychlorphine.
Authorities also reported finding 68.5 grams of MDMA, 6.5 grams of black tar heroin, a semi-automatic assault rifle, a semi-automatic pistol and $2,267 in cash.
The first arrests took place Tuesday, when officers detained 46-year-old Nicholas Wallace at his O’Farrell Street home on Sept. 8. Police said they seized 34 pills believed to be oxycodone, along with cocaine.
Parolee Sharonee Hyson, 44, was also arrested during the operation after police allegedly found him with 11.7 grams of cocaine base and a loaded firearm.
The following day, officers raided the San Francisco homes of Leander Pitts, 46, and Starr Lamare, 39. Investigators said they found more than 20,000 pills, including counterfeit Xanax, oxycodone, hydrocodone and cyclobenzaprine, as well as other potentially lethal narcotics, including fentanyl.
All four suspects were booked into San Francisco County Jail on multiple charges, including possession of narcotics for sale and firearms offenses.
Law enforcement officials said cychlorphine is approximately 10 times more potent than fentanyl and was first identified in the United States two years ago.
“The first time DEA saw it was in 2024 at one of our labs down in Florida,” Bob Beris, special agent in Charge of the DEA San Francisco Field Division told ABC.
Berris warned that cychlorphine is not confined to pills alone and can be hidden across multiple street drugs, making detection and avoidance especially difficult.
“It can be mixed into a pill. It can be sold as a powder. It can be mixed in with cocaine. It can be sold as cocaine. Again, just because we haven’t seen some of these examples yet doesn’t mean it’s not out there,” Beris said.
Public health experts say current drug-checking tools may not detect the presence of cychlorphine. It resists overdose reversal drugs like Narcan, requiring multiple doses to be effective.
Also present in the pill taken by Dante was a new drug that’s twenty times more potent than deadly fentanyl – and turning the city’s addicts into zombies.
The killer counterfeit opioid isotonitazene – known on the streets as ISO – was blended with cychlorphine in the pill taken by Dante, San Francisco Health Department officials said in an alert issued the month he died.
ISO is cheap and up to 100 times more powerful than fentanyl – making for a potential crisis.
“Even a single pill can contain a lethal dose,” the officials said in their alert.
A shocking video posted online showed throngs of stupefied users reeling from the effects of ISO in the city’s notorious Tenderloin district.
In the video created by Manhattan Institute writer Christopher Rufo, addicts are seen stooping over from the effects of the powerful drug and even lying corpselike on the sidewalk.
Rufo said a dealer told him ISO is becoming more popular on the streets.
“For the last ten years, it’s been an arms race for increasing the strength of opioids, from heroin to fentanyl, and now, to ISO,” said Rufo. “It’s devastating California cities.”
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
