Deadly Mix

There is a growing drug threat in the Dallas area, and law enforcement officials say it is targeted at children as young as 10. Those same officials fear the sinister substance may spread to other counties and cities across the area unless young people quickly are made aware of its horrors.

The drug is known as “Cheese,” and it’s a deadly mix of black tar heroin and Tylenol PM or similar over-the-counter drugs. Several students have died from the combination in recent months.

“The main target groups for this drug are middle school students between ages 12-13,” said Special Agent Terri Wyatt of the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA.

Why Tylenol PM?

Investigators believe that Tylenol is thrown into the mix simply because it is an inexpensive over-the-counter drug. It’s used to cut the concentration of heroin in Cheese. In that way, the sedative keeps the addictive killer affordable for children.

Most of the black tar heroin is imported from Mexico.

Cheese already is a serious problem in some schools in Dallas, Irving and other area cities, officials said.

The Dallas district recently hosted a special conference to talk about the dangers of Cheese and discuss ways to reduce its appeal to young people.

Jeremy Liebbe, an investigator for the Dallas school district, explained that dealers know how to attract their clients with low prices and pretty packages. He said dealers even use food coloring to decorate the drug during holidays, making it appear more like candy than a powerful nervous-system depressant.

If Cheese is abused, it can severely damage a person’s liver in less than five days, officials said.

“Children as young as 10 years of age have gone to the emergency room due to an overdose,” the DEA’s Wyatt said.

Everyone needs to be aware of the fact that not all Cheese users fit the typical model of the teenage drug abuser, officials said.

“We have had “A” students who have never had any problems with the authorities, and within days of using the drug their grades decrease rapidly,” Wyatt noted.

The drug is most popular among Hispanic teens, and the Dallas Police Department has identified cases in more than a dozen Dallas secondary schools as well as several surrounding suburban districts.

“The only way we can prevent the use of this drug is through education,” Wyatt said.

DEA and school officials plan to continue public discussions aimed at discouraging the use of Cheese. Dallas district officials said additional sessions will be May 17.