Street Drug Called - Cheese - Very Dangerous

Drug dealers across our nation have come up with a new, inexpensive lure to get our children interested and addicted. This street drug is called "cheese". They're mixing small amounts of heroin with crushed Tylenol PM tablets and selling it cheaply in schools giving it the recognition as the newest low-cost high available.

Police have found the mixture, "cheese", in high schools but also in the middle schools which is involving youngsters in our elementary schools as well, alarming to say the least. Students apparently are being lured by the low cost of "cheese," a combination of heroin and crushed Tylenol PM Tablets. The exact origin of the drug mixture is unknown but one fact is, it is crushed to a powder and then snorted to achieve the desired high.

The drug, in my opinion, sounds very much like what is commonly know as "a speed ball" which is a mixture of cocaine and heroin. With this "cheese", the cheap, very easily obtained Tylenol PM apparently contains stimulants and when combined with the heroin provides the same type of "rush" as the "speed ball". The mixture of "cheese" is about 2 to 8 percent heroin which is enough to be extremely dangerous. Heroin is dangerous in any form and in any amount and "cheese" has addictive properties just like regular heroin.

"Cheese" is a unique combination that gives a rush of an amphetamine combined with a high of an opiate and it is quite cheap. It's sold in small packages, between $2 and $10 which is obviously quite accessible for even the very young to purchase and experiment with. Our children are being lured by this cheapness and quick high of the drug. Many are buying it at school with their lunch money and snorting it through hollowed-out ballpoint pens.

Children don't realize or possibly may not understand, partly because of the name, that even though it is called "cheese", it is heroin. Heroin is highly addictive and has been around for centuries. Our children simply aren't that knowledgeable at such a young age. We need to change that fact and we need to do it now. The large doses of Tylenol PM in the cheese mixture also can be harmful, causing liver damage or failure. Remember, this can be a two dollar high which many children are probably able to afford and abuse at alarming rates.

The sad fact is, they are abusing this throughout this nation and we as educators and parents need to do something about. We need to look closely and pay attention to details such as sleepiness, difficulty waking up, and disorientation. Frequently, as with the abuse of many substances by youngsters, the user may exhibit changes in personality with aggressive behavior or dropping grades. The symptoms of withdrawal will be flu like symptoms, nausea, vomiting and anxiety.

Once again, we the families, we the communities, we the parents, and we the educators must take extra measures in helping all children by placing the facts on the table. We may need to be blunt, to the point, or even harsh with the facts but the reality is, if we don't do something, more children will become addicted, die, or end up in some institution. Education and communication needs to prosper in our communities and it starts with us. Knowledge is king and if we empower our children with knowledge, lives will be saved.