White House Drug Czar Sara Carter convened the first in-person meeting of the Emerging Threats Committee on May 13 as federal officials work to identify dangerous drug threats before they spread through the illegal supply.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy hosted the meeting, which included federal, state, local, and Tribal officials, as well as leaders from academia, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations, according to an ONDCP press release provided to The Dallas Express.
Committee members discussed the state of the illegal drug supply, new threat vectors, and challenges facing state, local, and Tribal communities.
The meeting followed the May 4 release of President Donald Trump’s 2026 National Drug Control Strategy, which calls for faster public warnings, stronger data collection, expanded use of artificial intelligence, and closer coordination between public health and law enforcement agencies.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the strategy frames the drug crisis as both a public health emergency and a national security threat, with a focus on attacking the illegal drug supply while expanding prevention, treatment, recovery, and faith-based support.
“History does not remember the crises we prevent. We rely on the Emerging Threats Committee to serve as the guardian angels of the American people, standing vigilant against emerging and still unknown drug threats,” Carter said.
“As part of our Strategy, ONDCP has already begun issuing drug threat notices on new and re-emerging deadly drugs entering the illicit drug supply, including medetomidine and cychlorphine, in an effort to warn the American people about these dangers. This is vital work with one goal in mind: to save American lives.”
Federal Officials Warn About Emerging Drugs
The committee meeting follows recent federal warnings about medetomidine and cychlorphine, two substances officials say have appeared in the illegal drug supply.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ONDCP issued a health advisory on April 2, warning that U.S. jurisdictions have increasingly detected medetomidine in drug seizures, drug samples, paraphernalia samples, and wastewater testing.
Medetomidine, also known as “rhino tranq,” “mede,” or “dex,” is not approved for human use but is approved for sedation and pain relief in dogs, according to the advisory.
The CDC said medetomidine can cause profound sedation, low heart rate, and low blood pressure. The agency also warned that people who stop using medetomidine after regular exposure can experience severe withdrawal symptoms, including high blood pressure, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, and fluctuating alertness.
Cychlorphine Already Found In Texas
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, federal officials warned on April 30 that cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid, had already appeared in Texas and may be up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl.
ONDCP’s Drug Threat Notice said officials identified cychlorphine in the illegal drug supply in states across all four U.S. Census regions, with the greatest prevalence in Ohio, Texas, and Tennessee.
The notice said cychlorphine has been linked to at least 55 deaths between 2025 and 2026. Officials also warned that the drug does not show up on drug test strips or routine hospital opioid urine screens.
Officials said cychlorphine has appeared mixed with fentanyl and other drugs, including methamphetamine, bromazolam, and cocaine. They also said the substance has been detected on its own.
ONDCP urged EMS workers, clinicians, law enforcement, and the public to be aware of the drug’s presence in the illegal supply, prepare to treat opioid overdoses with extra doses of naloxone, and call 911 when someone may be overdosing.
Strategy Calls For Earlier Warnings
The 2026 National Drug Control Strategy calls for federal officials to modernize public safety and public health data collection, use artificial intelligence to analyze current and future drug threats, and rapidly distribute warnings about dangerous drugs appearing in communities.
The White House said the strategy also calls for national-scale wastewater testing to obtain near-real-time data on illegal drug use.
The strategy further calls for expanding naloxone availability, developing new overdose-reversal medications, updating overdose rescue training, and creating a standardized approach for responding to mass overdose clusters.
The committee’s work fits into ONDCP’s broader strategy to identify emerging and still-unknown drug threats before they spread further through the illegal drug supply.
