Cheese (recreational drug)
Encyclopedia
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, between 2005 and 2007.
Cheese is a combination of drugs, made by combining heroin with crushed tablets of certain over-the-counter
Over-the-counter drug
Over-the-counter drugs are medicines that may be sold directly to a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to prescription drugs, which may be sold only to consumers possessing a valid prescription...
cold
Common cold
The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
medication, such as Tylenol PM. Such cold medications contain acetaminophen, the active ingredient
Active ingredient
An active ingredient is the substance of a pharmaceutical drug or a pharmaceutical ingredient and bulk active in medicine; in pesticide formulations active substance may be used. Some medications and pesticide products may contain more than one active ingredient...
in Tylenol
Tylenol
Tylenol is a North American brand of drugs advertised for reducing pain, reducing fever, and relieving the symptoms of allergies, cold, cough, and flu. The active ingredient of its original, flagship product, paracetamol , is marketed as an analgesic and antipyretic...
, and the antihistamine
Antihistamine
An H1 antagonist is a histamine antagonist of the H1 receptor that serves to reduce or eliminate effects mediated by histamine, an endogenous chemical mediator released during allergic reactions...
diphenhydramine
Diphenhydramine
Diphenhydramine hydrochloride is a first-generation antihistamine possessing anticholinergic, antitussive, antiemetic, and sedative properties which is mainly used to treat allergies. Like most other first-generation antihistamines, the drug also has a powerful hypnotic effect, and for this reason...
, the active ingredient in Benadryl
Benadryl
Benadryl is a brand name allergy medicine marketed over-the-counter by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Prior to 2007, Benadryl was marketed by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare...
. Cheese samples obtained in north
North Dallas
North Dallas is an expensive area of numerous communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas . The phrase "North Dallas" is also sometimes used to include any suburb or exurb north of Dallas proper within the metropolitan area. The majority of North Dallas is located in Dallas County while a small...
Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
contained between 2% and 8% heroin, in contrast to the 30% commonly found in black tar heroin
Black tar heroin
Black tar heroin is a type of illicit opiate narcotic drug formed from the incomplete acetylation of morphine. It is also called brown.Black tar can contain a variable percentage of heroin, but despite the name, what makes Black Tar specific as a type is not actually its heroin content, but rather...
. Users commonly take the powder by insufflation
Insufflation (medicine)
Insufflation is the practice of inhaling a substance. Insufflation has limited medical use, but is a common route of administration with many respiratory drugs used to treat conditions in the lungs and paranasal sinus .The technique is common for many recreational drugs and is also used for some...
("snorting") rather than by intravenous injection. This mixture is also known as "Tylenol With Smack", by analogy to the Tylenol With Codeine series.
Emergence
The drug made many news head lines when it appeared in several public middle and high schools in DallasDallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration, some police agencies and the Dallas Independent School District
Dallas Independent School District
The Dallas Independent School District is a school district based in Dallas, Texas . Dallas ISD, which operates schools in much of Dallas County, is the second largest school district in Texas and the twelfth largest in the United States.In 2009, the school district was rated "academically...
(DISD) dubbed the mixture "starter heroin." The district handled fifty-four property cases and found twenty-four felony offenses involving "cheese" between August 15, 2005 and March 1, 2006, at eleven schools. On February 24, 2007, United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
reported that DISD would increase drug-sniffing dog patrols in order to eliminate Cheese from its schools. As of mid-2007, police records for the northwest quadrant of Dallas showed almost daily arrests for and confiscations of the drug.
According to Dallas school district authorities, Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
teenagers are the demographic group most frequently charged with possession of the drug; Hispanics also constitute a majority (60 percent) of all DISD students. DISD Police, on April 18, 2006, identified the youngest known user of Cheese as a 13-year old. By February 1, 2007, usage of Cheese was reported in the fourth-grade level at several elementary schools; By February 2007, Monty Moncibais, a detective of the Dallas Police Narcotics Division, noted 71 cheese-related arrests in children aged 10 through 16.
Dallas-area treatment centers have noted that the drug's growing use has led to a lowering in the age of teens admitted to their programs, although the United States Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
(DEA) asserted in 2006 that cheese usage was not increasing. From a typical clientele of 15- to 17-year-olds admitted under court order, one Dallas-area center noted it had begun to admit 11, 12, and 13-year-olds voluntarily or at a parent's request.
Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
posted an article about Cheese, titled "Stopping a Kid Killer," in 2007. Jack Schafer, a columnist for Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
, criticized the Newsweek article; Schafer believes that the Newsweek article does not adequately explain the process of creating Cheese and did not use scientists as sources. Jane C. Maxwell, a senior research scientist of the Gulf Coast Addiction Technology Transfer Center at The University of Texas at Austin, stated in "“Cheese” Heroin: Status as of May 2, 2007" that she believes that the effect of Cheese could increase due to media reporting aspects such as "unsubstantiated numbers" and "sensationalistic emphasis" regarding "new highs" and "schoolboy drugs," leading to copycat outbreaks.
In mid-2007, a number of area stores opted either to remove Tylenol PM and similar products from their shelves or to move them to shelves within a pharmacist's view or control. The manager of a Fiesta Mart
Fiesta Mart
Fiesta Mart Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Houston, Texas that was established in 1972. Fiesta Mart operates stores in Texas, including the Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, and Waco areas. The chain uses a cartoon parrot as a mascot...
supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
in northwest Dallas explained his store's policy shift regarding various diphenhydramine-containing products by saying local youths were stealing these items, adding, "We didn't want to be part of the problem or anybody dying," implying that the store also pulled the products to curb abuse. The manager stated that theft decreased after removing the products, and various local Carnival supermarkets and Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
pharmacies also voluntarily shifted the products to pharmacist-controlled or -monitored shelves.
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
unofficially reported that arrests for Cheese in DISD decreased. The district performed 71 arrests for Cheese in the 2006-2007 school year. During the 2007-2008 school year from August to December the district performed 17 arrests. The number of children seeking treatment for use of Cheese remained steady. The paper reported that usage of Cheese spread from the northwest Dallas area and into areas outside of Dallas County. Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, the commander of the narcotics division of the Dallas Police, said that he encountered more White
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
and Black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
teenagers using the drug. Michelle Hemm, the director of the Phoenix Academy of Dallas, believes that Cheese arrests decreased because users took more care to conceal the drugs or did not bring the drugs to schools for fear of detection.
Creation and marketing
According to a 14-year old girl being treated at the Phoenix Academy, water is added to the heroin. The watered-down heroin, often called "monkey juice," is mixed with Tylenol PM tablets. The makers of Cheese heat the mixture to remove excess water, resulting in the final product.The heroin in cheese remains an addictive substance, just like any adulterated form of heroin. Once a person is physically addicted, withdrawal symptoms may appear from 6 to 24 hours after the last dose of the drug.
Deaths attributed to cheese
Deaths directly attributable to this form of heroin are difficult to confirm because coroner's offices frequently do not have a method to track cause of death to one specific form of a drug. Centralized reporting of cheese heroin deaths does not exist in Texas since each county has its own official to sign death certificates.2006: The first deaths are reported
Several of the deaths are notable due either to the publicity that followed or unusual circumstances of the case. One of the earliest published instances of a death attributed to cheese heroin was that of Karla Becerra, an 18-year-old high school senior found dead by her father in their West DallasWest Dallas
West Dallas is an area consisting of many communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas . West Dallas is the area bounded by Interstate 30 on the south, the Trinity River on the east and north, and the Trinity River's West Fork on the west....
home on April 24, 2006. Police attributed her death to snorting cheese and drinking alcohol. On November 1, 2006, 17-year-old Keith Witherspoon died in nearby Mesquite
Mesquite, Texas
Mesquite is a city located within the Dallas/Ft.Worth area of Texas. As of the 2010 US Census, the population was 139,824.-History:The city was founded May 22, 1873, by a Texas & Pacific Railway engineer who purchased land along the Texas & Pacific line outside of Dallas...
; a story the following month in The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
profiled Witherspoon as "the first Dallas-area youth publicly known to have died of a heroin overdose since the 'cheese' concerns were raised." The death was also notable because Mesquite is located northheast of Dallas, indicating the problem had moved beyond its origins in the northwest quadrant of the city.
Early 2007: Deaths in younger populations
The first middle-school "cheese" death in published accounts was that of Oscar Gutierrez, a 15-year old eighth grader in northwest Dallas, who died February 18, 2007; his brother stated that the boy had previously survived an overdose of the same drug. Community rallies followed Gutierrez' death as parents and others urged the police and school district to become more active in fighting what was viewed as a growing problem. The death of Fernando Cortez Jr., a high school student, on March 31, 2007, led to further community activism. Initially this death was linked to cheese heroin based on the father's comments in press reports; the father said his son was at a Dallas party when he was offered "cheese" and that the boy had not tried drugs before. Cortez's father went on to become a speaker at community meetings within the school system, urging that parents keep closer watch over their children. On April 24, the same day toxicology results were announced confirming the link to cheese, police announced a family friend would be charged with murder for having mixed the drugs for Cortez.Spring/summer 2007: Old deaths examined, new deaths occur
Between the time of Cortez Jr.'s death and the announcement of his toxicology tests in late April, The Dallas Morning News published the results of a lengthy analysis of autopsy results between 2005 and 2007, conducted in concert with the Dallas CountyDallas County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,218,899 people, 807,621 households, and 533,837 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,523 people per square mile . There were 854,119 housing units at an average density of 971/sq mi...
medical examiner's office, which suggested that as many as 17 deaths among adolescents during that period were attributable to cheese heroin, not including the Cortez death. The conclusion was based in part on the presence of both heroin and diphenhydramine in the blood of the deceased; additionally, the families of 11 victims confirmed the deceased had used cheese heroin. Some toxicologists
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
questioned the results due to the absence of acetaminophen. Other experts argued that acetaminophen has a shorter half-life
Half-life
Half-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...
and might have been metabolized
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
by the body prior to death. Susan Dalterio, a University of Texas at San Antonio
University of Texas at San Antonio
The University of Texas at San Antonio, commonly referred to as UTSA, is a state university in San Antonio, Texas. With an enrollment of more than 30,000 students, it is the third-largest of nine universities and six health institutions in the University of Texas System and the eighth-largest in...
pharmacology expert, insisted that the combination was unlikely to be a coincidence, as a person sleepy from diphenhydramine would be unlikely to be abusing heroin at the same time. It is common for users of heroin, and other opioid
Opioid
An opioid is a psychoactive chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central and peripheral nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract...
drugs, to take diphenhydramine-containing medications to reduce two common side effects of opioid drugs: itchiness and nausea .
On April 18, days after findings from the medical examiner's review were published, two more deaths occurred, though once again their connection to cheese heroin took weeks to be confirmed. The body of 18-year-old Keridma Godina was found on a porch in Balch Springs
Balch Springs, Texas
Balch Springs is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is both a suburb of Dallas and is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The population was 19,375 at the 2000 census. A July 1, 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 20,003.-Geography:Balch Springs is located at...
the day after her death; police charged two men immediately with abandoning the body, but were unable to make any drug-related charge when confirmation of the link to cheese came three weeks later. The death of 17-year-old Lauren Paulson of The Colony
The Colony, Texas
The city is bordered on the west by Lewisville Lake and Lewisville, Texas, on the north and east by Frisco, Texas and on the south by Carrollton, Texas and Plano, Texas...
, was reported that same week, but was not linked to cheese heroin until late summer. In mid-May, the Dallas County medical examiner's office confirmed that two earlier teen deaths — one in January and another in April — were confirmed by toxicology tests as linked to cheese heroin; these additions brought the known toll at that time to 21 deaths among those 18 and under, not including the Paulson case.
Over the summer vacation months of 2007, the push against cheese heroin continued. Parents and police organized a June 30 March, Sen. John Cornyn
John Cornyn
John Cornyn, III is the junior United States Senator for Texas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 111th U.S. Congress....
visited the area as part of an anti-cheese campaign in early July, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy gave a press conference from Dallas ISD headquarters in August praising the district's efforts, and local stores pulled Tylenol PM and similar drugs from the shelves to make them less accessible. July also saw the addition of two more names to the list of deaths, as Paulson's death became the 22nd linked to the drug, and a 17-year-old member of a high school drill team
Drill team
A drill team can be one of four different entities:# A Military Drill Team is marching unit that performs routines based on military drill. Military drill teams perform either armed or unarmed....
died at Parkland Memorial Hospital
Parkland Memorial Hospital
Parkland Memorial Hospital is a hospital located at 5201 Harry Hines Boulevard, just west of Oak Lawn in Dallas, Texas . It is the main hospital of the Dallas County Hospital District and serves as Dallas County's public hospital.- History :The original hospital opened in 1894 in a wooden...
eleven days after being found unconscious on the morning her group was to take its yearbook photo.
Autumn 2007: Deaths across north Texas
The spread of the drug to the outlying suburbs of Dallas was confirmed in September by the return of toxicology reports from the July 13 death of an 18-year-old student from McKinneyMcKinney, Texas
McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas, United States, and the second in population to Plano. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 131,117 The Census Bureau listed McKinney as the nation's fastest growing city from 2000 to 2003 and again in...
, located northeast of Dallas in Collin County
Collin County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 491,675 people, 181,970 households, and 132,292 families residing in the county. The population density was 580 people per square mile . There were 194,892 housing units at an average density of 230 per square mile...
, and from two July deaths in nearby Tarrant County
Tarrant County, Texas
Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, it had a population of 1,809,034. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County is the sixteenth most populous county in the United States and the third most populous in Texas. The county is named in honor...
, one involving a 17-year-old male and the other, a 26-year-old male. Additional suburban deaths in September — in Irving
Irving, Texas
Irving is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Dallas County. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city population was 216,290. Irving is within the Dallas–Plano–Irving metropolitan division of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, designated...
to the west and Rockwall
Rockwall, Texas
Rockwall is a city in Rockwall County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Dallas. It is part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The population was 37,490 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Rockwall County. Rockwall County is the second wealthiest county in the state of Texas in terms...
to the east — were believed to be linked to cheese heroin, though police cautioned toxicology reports would not likely be complete until November. The Tarrant County medical examiner's office announced on September 24 that a review of deaths in Tarrant County (west) and Denton County
Denton County, Texas
Denton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 432,976; in 2009 the estimated population had reached 628,300. Part of the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex, it is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. The county seat is Denton. The county...
(north) showed an additional 15 deaths between 2004 and 2007 that appeared to be linked to "cheese," and Collin
Collin County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 491,675 people, 181,970 households, and 132,292 families residing in the county. The population density was 580 people per square mile . There were 194,892 housing units at an average density of 230 per square mile...
and Rockwall counties
Rockwall County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 43,080 people, 14,530 households, and 11,972 families residing in the county. The population density was 334 people per square mile . There were 15,351 housing units at an average density of 119 per square mile...
had reported one death each. These new figures brought the total number of deaths associated with cheese heroin in northern Texas to 40, a figure that included many older adults along with those age 18 and under.
External links
- Cheese at Dallas Independent School DistrictDallas Independent School DistrictThe Dallas Independent School District is a school district based in Dallas, Texas . Dallas ISD, which operates schools in much of Dallas County, is the second largest school district in Texas and the twelfth largest in the United States.In 2009, the school district was rated "academically...
- ABC News gallery of Cheese seized by the Dallas ISD
- Tracy Sabo. "Deadly $2 heroin targets teens," CNN, June 12, 2007.
- "New Drug Hits the Street? A 'Poor Man's Heroin' For Kids", Pine Magazine, June 12, 2007.
- Dave Montgomery. "Law enforcement worries 'cheese heroin' could spread," McClatchy Newspapers, July 18, 2007.
- Merlan, Anna. "In Suburban Dallas, Loosening "Cheese" Heroin's Deadly Grip." Dallas ObserverDallas ObserverThe Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
. July 28, 2011. - "Cheese" Heroin by Erowid.