"Cheese" Heroin
June 2007
"Cheese" heroin or "starter heroin" is a combination of black tar heroin and ground up cold medicine (Tylenol PM) containing acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. The mixture is a tan powder that is snorted.
According to users, the effects of "cheese" heroin include euphoria, disorientation, lethargy, sleepiness and hunger. This combination appears to be highly addictive. Withdrawal symptoms from "cheese" heroin may begin within twelve hours of use and include headache, chills, muscle pains, muscle spasms, anxiety, agitation, disorientation and disassociation.
This mixture has been found in middle and high schools in the Dallas, Texas area and costs around $2 per hit and $10 per gram. Over the past two years, there have reportedly been approximately 20 teen deaths in the Dallas area due to "cheese" heroin. The number of arrests involving possession of "cheese" heroin in the Dallas area during the 2006–2007 school year was 146, which is an increase from approximately 90 such arrests the year before.
Sources/Additional Resources:
Publications:
"Cheese" Heroin: Status as of June 2, 2007 (PDF), Jane C. Maxwell, Ph.D., June 2007
Cheese Heroin (PDF), Dallas Police Department, April 2007
News Articles:
"Deadly $2 Heroin Targets Teens" CNN, June 12, 2007
"Deadly Combination of Heroin and Cold Medicine Invades Dallas" Join Together, May 15, 2007
"'Cheese' Heroin New Deadly Drug of Choice" CBS 5, May 7, 2007
'Cheese' Heroin Kills 18th Dallas County Student" The Dallas Morning News, April 23, 2007
"Deadly 'Cheese' Epidemic Spreading Far and Fast" The Dallas Morning News, April 15, 2007