COMMUNITY URGED TO HELP BATTLE NEW DEADLY DRUG

A Dallas man warned community members Monday of a heroin and
over-the-counter drug mixture that is used by youths as young as 10
and is associated with 24 recent Dallas area deaths.

"This drug is beginning to branch out," he told an audience of about
60 people who listened to him at Estacado High School.

One person has been arrested in association with the drug in Lubbock
and four local cheez addicts have sought treatment, Quintanilla said.

Cheez is made by mixing black tar heroin with an over-the-counter
allergy or headache medicine, most commonly Tylenol PM, Quintanilla said.

It resembles Parmesan cheez and is snorted.

A hit costs $2, he said.

Often, he has found in the Dallas area, students will hide the
mixture in textbooks, pockets, backpacks and notebook papers folded
to resemble notes.

"We see kids everyday falling," he said.

"If we can send a message to Lubbock, to Corpus Christi, that this
drug has the potential to decimate a community, to kill the future of
a community, it's worth coming out to talk to you," he said.

Lubbock mother of four Sandy Reyes had never heard of cheez, like
many others who attended Monday's presentation, which was organized
by the founder of Lubbock Citizens for Progress, Armando Gonzales.

But her teenage son, Joseph, had.

Parents, such as Reyes, said Monday they were glad to know more about the drug.

"I wanted to be here to get information," said Lubbock grandparent
and pastor Ruben Caro, who also attended Monday's presentation.

One key to the fight against cheez heroin is prevention, said
Quintanilla, as he urged community members to form a task force
against this and other drugs.

"It's kind of like Noah," said Lubbock County Commissioner Ysidro
Gutierrez of Precinct 3, comparing the fight against this new type of
heroin with the Bible's Noah, who built an ark in spite of his
neighbors' perceptions.

"Will we ignore the warning here in Lubbock?" Gutierrez said.