GRAPEVINE POLICE WARN OF DRUG NICKNAMED 'CHEESE'

A new drug cocktail has shown up in Grapevine, and police say they
fear it will soon be popular among teens throughout Tarrant County.

Street-named for its yellowish color, "cheese" is an inexpensive and
highly addictive combination of heroin, water and over-the-counter
pain reliever.

After dozens of busts in Dallas schools, Tarrant officials want
parents to know about the homemade drug blend and how to tell when
their children may be using it.

James Avita, 18, says the inexpensive and highly addictive drug has
been around for a while and isn't going away. Everyone he's acquainted
with knows what it is, Avita said, and it killed his best friend less
than two weeks ago.

Alfonso Barajas, an 18-year-old senior at Grand Prairie High School,
had recently started using the drug again after kicking the habit,
said Avita, a junior at the school. Officials at the Dallas County
Medical Examiner's office say Barajas' death appears to be a drug
overdose and they're awaiting the results of toxicology tests. Avita
says he knows it was "cheese."

Barajas' television was still on when his parents found his body
face-up in bed surrounded by candy wrappers on May 7.

"It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life," Elias
Barajas said. "My son's lifeless body."

As he searched his son's room for any clue to what killed him, Barajas
found a powdery substance under the turntable. In a grief-stricken
rage, he flushed it down the toilet. Now Barajas wonders if it was
"cheese."

"That drug is wicked," he said. "I hope his death can save just one
life or make one parent aware of the danger."

Grapevine police got their first glimpse of the drug mixture in
January, and lab tests confirmed May 12 that it was "cheese."

On Jan. 30, a 16-year-old Coppell High School student was arrested at
Baylor Medical Center in Grapevine, where he had taken a friend who
had snorted the drug to the emergency room for a heroin overdose.

The 16-year-old, who appeared intoxicated and disoriented, dropped a
small baggie with powder in it as Grapevine Officer Jason Keller
approached him. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine, and
further testing at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office
revealed the presence of heroin.

"It's only a matter of time" before the drug makes a full migration
into Tarrant County, Keller said.

Officials have seen the pattern before. In the late 1990s, a heroin
epidemic spread from Plano to Tarrant County, and in 17 months claimed
the lives of at least 10 young people, including teens as young as
13.

Tarrant officials fear the use of "cheese" will spread through malls,
churches and parks - the common places for friends from different
cities to gather and an easy place to distribute drugs, Keller said.

Eleven Dallas secondary schools have reported cases involving the
heroin drug mix. Between August and March, Dallas school district
police made 54 felony arrests in 24 cases involving possession and
possible sale of the drug, Officer Jeremy Liebbe said.

During the crackdown, investigators typically found the drug mix, with
granules as fine as baking soda or as coarse as table salt, folded
inside a small piece of paper.

After snorting the drug, many users became hooked and found it easy to
make or buy, Liebbe said. Street prices are $5 for about a
quarter-gram and $10 for about a half-gram. Smaller doses are sold for
as little as $2, Liebbe said.

Grapevine High School has had no reports of the drug, but school
resource officer Mike Kirchenbauer says he is well-aware of "cheese"
and is keeping a watchful eye. Faculty and administrators at the
school have also been briefed about it.

Daniel Maitland, 18, a senior at Colleyville Heritage High School, and
Christian Hughes, 17, of Grapevine High say they have never heard of
the drug.

But only 20 miles to the southeast, Barajas' friends say their May 27
graduation will be painful without him.

"It's a wake-up call for everyone," Avita said.