DRUG DOGS TO BE USED TO FIGHT 'CHEESE'

First High School Searches Targeting Heroin Mix Set In March

Drug-sniffing dogs will soon be patrolling Dallas schools as part of
the district's efforts to combat a "cheese" heroin epidemic on
northwest Dallas campuses.

High schools can expect a visit from the dogs and their handlers
beginning in March, said Gary Hodges, the district's deputy police chief.

"I believe it will be of help," Chief Hodges said. "We could check
all high schools at least once."

The cheese problem in the Dallas Independent School District prompted
an outcry this week among parents and community advocates, who said
the district was doing too little, too late.

Responding to what some are calling a crisis, the district for the
first time this school year signed a contract with a company that
provides trained dogs.

"This is the direct result of the cheese epidemic," DISD spokesman
Celso Martinez said.

Also, in hopes of enlisting students' help, the district has
established a hotline to report drug activity. The number,
214-932-5695, will be active starting Monday.

Cheese, a mixture of heroin and Tylenol PM that users snort, has
resulted in about 200 criminal cases in the last 18 months, nearly
all of them involving Hispanic students or individuals. Authorities
attribute four deaths to cheese, all within the past year.

Some DISD trustees proposed creating an ad hoc committee to study
what else can be done to prevent students from supplying drugs on campuses.

DISD trustee Edwin Flores said he wants the committee to determine
when a student can be searched for drugs.

"I want to see how far we can go as a district. ... Maybe we're on
the edge [of constitutional rights], maybe not," he said. "I would
like to know where we have to be and where we want to go, because
this is a growing problem because [cheese] is so inexpensive."

A dose of the drug costs around $2, according to police.

State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, promised to help the district
however he can, including legislatively.

"The highest priority is to investigate how heroin is getting to the
children in our community," he said. "If this means introducing other
bills, we're ready for that fight."

A few years ago, the Legislature restricted public access to drugs
containing pseudoephedrine because it was being used to make methamphetamines.

But changing tactics may help, too.

Antonio Montanez, a Protestant minister and gang intervention expert,
suggested that the district train more female employees to search
girls, whom he said dealers are using to introduce drugs into schools.

"They are carrying the drug into the schools," he said, "because the
boys are being searched, but not girls."