Dallas enforcement experts say high school kids – some of whom are gang members – appear to make up the loosely organized packagers and sellers of “cheese,” the latest incarnation of heroin making its way into mostly Hispanic schools in the area, the Dallas Morning News reports. The heroin that is being cut with Tylenol PM to make cheese comes from the same sources that have been funneling the drug north from Mexico for years. Cheese represents the latest attempt to hook a new generation of customers, most of whom grew up with “Just Say No” commercials and are averse to sticking needles in their arms – the traditional delivery method for heroin. “These are street-level people who have figured out a way to make a little bit of heroin go a long way, and make a lot of money,” said James Capra, Drug Enforcement Administration agent in charge in Dallas. “These are monsters that are doing this. They’re marketing to kids.”
So far, the dealers’ handiwork – a powder known to be snorted in school bathrooms or in the backs of classrooms – has resulted in about 200 criminal cases against students, most of them Hispanics. Years ago, a similar product was called “chiva,” a mixture of heroin and brown sugar. Like cheese, chiva was particularly popular in largely Hispanic communities. “In the end, cheese is nothing more than heroin, and heroin is heroin, is heroin,” said a former federal drug agent. “Drug pushers are no different than advertisers. They’re constantly looking for new ways to market their poison, and so now they call it cheese. But it’s the same old garbage, different name and deadlier.”
Link: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022307dnmetcheese.14701ad.html