Teens Dying from "Cheese"

"Cheese" is a heroin based drug combined with cold medicine. It was named for its resemblance to parmesan cheese, and is a blend of Mexican black tar heroin, and medicines containing dipenhydramine, an antihistamine found in over the counter medicines such as Tylenol PM. When the two substances are mixed together they form a deadly dose and can shut down the body and kill.

Cheese first appeared in the Dallas, Texas areas in 2005, and was popular with middle and high school students in the Northeast parts of the city according to reports from police and school officials. Dallas police detective Monty Moncibus has now reported that the drug is reaching children as young as nine years old, according to the Houston Chronicle reporter Thomas Korosec.

Debbie Meripolski from the Greater Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse reports cheese is very easy to get and costs about $2.00 per tenth of a gram. It doesn't seem to have spread beyond the Dallas area, and officials are puzzled by this. Close to 150 students have been arrested on charges of "cheese" possession in the Dallas area, and close to 90 teens have been admitted for drug treatment. Thinking they had symptoms of the flu, the youths were actually going through withdrawal from the drug. There has been reported overdose deaths also because of "cheese," according to The Houston Chronicle.

A taskforce was formed in March to stop this deadly drug and authorities have charged six north Dallas men with distributing the drug and being the major suppliers. One activst against the drug has said the drug was coming in from Mexico and out of the 21 deaths, eleven have been Hispanic teens. Houston Chronicle reports that state officials have spent $400,000 for treatment and education and have reached Hispanic families that are bilingual with ads, and literature.

Some Hispanic immigrants who are leary of police are being informed of the drug through the drug and alcohol council who is sending workers into their neighborhoods. One police investigator working for the Dallas Independent School District is reported by the Houston Chronicle as saying" that there are signs that the effort is starting to pay off".

Sources:
Houston Chronicle
Staff writer Thomas Korosec

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/stories/MYSA070107.04B.cheese.323fdf1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_(recreational_drug)