DRUG DEALERS MIXING HEROIN, COLD MEDICINE

WASHINGTON -- Federal and state officials are stepping up efforts to
block the spread of an emerging drug menace called cheese heroin,
which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 20 young people in
the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the past two years.

The drug, a mixture of black tar heroin and cold medicine, sells for
as little as $2 a hit and is being targeted at youths, often as an
inducement to join a gang.

The drug is largely confined to Dallas and its suburbs. But Sen. John
Cornyn, R-Texas, and other officials warn that, with its low price
and easy marketability by drug dealers, deadly cheese heroin could
spread into other communities.

"We're still seeing the highest concentration in the Dallas area, but
last year we started to see a spread to outlying cities," said Jeremy
Liebbe, a police officer with the Dallas Independent School District
who's investigated nearly 250 cheese heroin cases. "What that tells
us is that it isn't a problem that's going to go away anytime soon."

Cornyn sponsored an amendment to pending Senate anti-gang legislation
that would add cheese heroin to the list of targeted drugs in a
youth-oriented media campaign sponsored by the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy. The amendment would authorize
educational and advertising programs to alert young people in
targeted communities to the danger of cheese heroin.

So named because it resembles Parmesan cheese, the drug has been
pushed heavily among Latino youths since it was first detected in
Dallas schools in 2005. Arrests for possession of cheese heroin
during the 2006-07 school year increased 60 percent over the previous
year, Cornyn said, and drug treatment centers say that "cheese"
addicts are as numerous as those seeking help for marijuana use.

Because it can be produced easily from lower-grade heroin and
over-the-counter cold medication, Drug Enforcement Administration
agents consider the drug a threat and are working to keep it from
spreading, said Steve Robertson, a national DEA spokesman.