Cheese Kills: Rising Trend of Low Grade Black Tar Heroin Marketed to Young Users

A fresh blend of cold medicine, mainly Tylenol PM, and black tar heroin have a new generation of young users saying "cheese" to a new addiction - cheese heroin.

Cheese heroin, or simply "cheese", is looked at as a "starter" or low-grade form of heroin. This light tan powder, resembling Parmesan cheese, is often packaged in a small plastic baggie and snorted, like cocaine, into the nose through a tube, straw or ballpoint pen. While it is only a variation of heroin, containing as much as 8% according to the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), it is still highly addictive.

While local and federal authorities believe the use of cheese heroin is, for now, contained to the Dallas, Texas area, they are still apprehensive of its spread throughout the rest of the nation. Because of the age of communication in which we live, users and dealers can spread underground marketing campaigns of cheese heroin like Internet pornography into the homes of unsuspecting middle schoolers.

Cheese heroin finds an audience among younger users, as young as 13, because of its low cost. According to a recent CNN article, it found 15-year-old Fernando "Nando" Cortez Jr., who died after ingesting the low grade heroin. 'Tweens and teens can cop a high for less than the price of a happy meal - about $2, $10 for an entire gram.

The ingredients of cheese heroin, black tar heroin, morphine (a heroin metabolite), and diphenhydramine HCL (found in over the counter cold medicines) are depressants. When ingested with other depressants, such as alcohol, it may cause respiratory arrest.

When looking for symptoms of cheese use, authorities suggest looking for drowsiness, lethargy, euphoria, excessive thirst, disorientation and hunger. Parents and friends may also notice a sudden change in grades or a notice a new or different circle of friends.

Signs and symptoms of withdrawal, which can begin within a few hours of the last "hit", can include mood swings, insomnia, headache, chills, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, muscle and bone pain, anxiety and agitation.

Across drug treatment centers in Dallas, cheese heroin is just as common as marijuana. Cheese is becoming a new "gateway drug", with an increase in users of almost 50% from the previous year.

According to the Dallas Police Department, "Youths in the Dallas County, Texas, area. As many as 21 teenagers in Dallas County have died of a "cheese" overdose since 2005, according to Dallas Police, and there have been more than 200 arrests for the heroin mix in the Dallas Independent School District since the 2005-06 school year."

To date, the best the DEA can offer concerning this potential drug crisis is that they are "...closely monitoring the use of cheese in Dallas" and are working with local authorities to raise awareness about the problem.