Cheese heroin, or cheese drug, combines Mexican black tar heroin and over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol PM. Once the drug is mixed, it is tan in color and has a powder consistency. It is usually snorted through the nose with a ballpoint pen, tube, or straw. What makes cheese drugs so dangerous is that it is easily accessible and highly addictive. Children as young as 9 years old are buying it across the U.S. - and many are immediately rushed to the emergency room after use. The combination of black tar heroin and over-the-counter drugs can cause the user’s heart to stop beating and lungs to stop working leading to immediate death.
Read on as Avenues Recovery, leaders in drug treatment, explore the history of cheese heroin, its symptoms, and the effects of its use.
History of Cheese Heroin
At the turn of the century in the early 2000s, the first reported cases of cheese heroin came to light. The most common cases were among school-aged children in Dallas, Texas with Hispanic and Mexican-American populations at the greatest risk of cheese drug abuse. The first reported cases contained a mix of black tar heroin, which comes from Mexico, and Tylenol.
Cheese Heroin Effects
Cheesing drug users may begin to perform poorly in school or work and choose to be around friends who are also users.
Using heroin cheese can cause the user to feel:
- Tired
- Lethargic
- Disoriented
- Hungry
- Euphoric
Additional side effects of cheese heroin can include:
- Nausea
- Constipation
- Mental health problems
- Damaged blood vessels and tissues in the nose
- Clouded mental function
- Impaired judgment
- Severe itching
Cheese Heroin Withdrawal Symptoms
While acetaminophen and diphenhydramine, found in Tylenol and Tylenol PM, are not addictive, heroin is extremely addictive. Taking any drug repeatedly can lead to dependence and addiction, and eventual withdrawal when trying to get off the drug.
Withdrawal symptoms from cheese addiction may begin within hours and can last for several months. Some of these symptoms include:
- Chills
- Vomiting
- Headache
- Nausea
- Anxiety
- Muscle pains and spasms
- Agitation
- Disorientation
- Disassociation (disconnecting from thoughts, feelings, memories, and sense of identity)
These are just some of the side effects of using cheese heroin.
Cheese Heroin Overdose
Since illicit drug dealers produce cheese heroin, it is hard to know exactly how much heroin is in each batch. The higher the amount of heroin, the higher the chance of overdose. Overdosing on cheese drug can cause severe respiratory depression. This can include slower breathing, and a reduction of the amount of oxygen coming to the brain, which could lead to brain damage.
The high concentration of acetaminophen in cheese heroin can cause severe liver damage which could lead to immediate death. Survivors of cheese heroin overdose may require dialysis for life or a liver transplant.
Cheese heroin overdose can lead to:
- Being in a Coma
- Brain damage
- Liver damage
- Death
Using cheese heroin is both addictive and deadly. Mostly young people are effected. Between 2005 - 2007, at least 17 teenagers were reported dead due to cheese heroin in the Dallas County area, and it continues to be a dangerous issue.
Treatment centers in the Dallas area have noted a lowering in the age of their teen clientele. While the median age used to be 15 to 17, the youngest patients are now as young as 11 years old. As teens experiment with how to make cheese heroin, the risks of addiction and overdose grow more concerning.
Ramifications of Cheese Heroin Use
Due to the high prevalence of cheese heroin addiction in Dallas, many supermarkets and pharmacies started to remove Tylenol PM from their shelves since they noticed a spike in theft of the product and they didn’t want to contribute in any way to cheese drug addiction. Tylenol PM was still available, but the availability was monitored. Removing over-the-counter drugs from the shelves led to fewer findings of cheese heroin in the Dallas schools.
While the abuse of cheese heroin is mostly limited to the Dallas area, there have been reports in other areas of the U.S. Cheese heroin has been found in Boulder County, Colorado, Shreveport, Louisiana, and also some parts of Ohio. In the Ohio finding, the heroin was not mixed with over-the-counter medications, rather the users would ingest over-the-counter medications immediately after taking heroin to prolong their high.
There is Support for Overcoming Cheese Heroin Addiction
If you or your loved one is suffering from a cheese heroin addiction, or any other drug addiction, Avenues Recovery is here to support you. As leaders in addiction rehabilitation, we’ve helped countless addicts find their way to sobriety. Contact Avenues Recovery today to start your journey to recovery.