more cheese Options

[Divergent Realit...]

cheese please

The deaths of at least 18 teenagers, ranging from ages 15 to 18, have been linked to the mixture of black tar heroin -- a less refined form of the drug -- and Tylenol PM tablets ground into a powder.

The spread of cheese in schools has parents and law enforcement officials worried. Children as young as 11 have been caught with the concoction.

Right now, cheese heroin seems to be a Dallas phenomenon. But experts note that drug dealers are always eager to expand into new areas. Dallas school district police first spotted the trend in 2005.

"Cheese is just a different makeup for mixing with heroin, but it's still heroin," said Dr. Jeffrey Barnard, chief medical examiner for Dallas County. "It's the heroin that's the problem."

Several factors appear to be driving the popularity of cheese. Kids often buy the drug from other kids. It's affordable, selling for about $2 a dosage. And it is usually snorted rather than injected.

"Hopefully we can try to contain it," said Dr. Sing-Yi Feng, a toxicologist at Children's Medical Center Dallas. "The concern is that the stuff is pretty cheap, it's easy to use."

During the 2005-2006 school year, the Dallas school district police arrested 90 students for possession of the heroin/Tylenol PM mixture. The number has soared during the current school year. Through February, 122 have been arrested. The average age of those arrested is 14.

that mixture just sounds delicious.