DALLAS TRIES TO CUT "CHEESE"

The number of Dallas students getting hooked on a new drug called
"cheese" is skyrocketing, with arrests for the heroin mix up 82
percent so far this school year.

Dallas Independent School District police made 122 arrests through
February for students either possessing or dealing the drug. At that
time last school year, 67 cheese-related arrests had been made. The
total had reached 90 by summer.

School district officials have said they were slow to see cheese as a
threat when it was first detected in the fall of 2005 because they
didn't know what it was. They say the number of arrests has picked up
because now they know what they're looking for.

Cheese, which sells for as little as $2 a hit, is a highly addictive
blend of black tar heroin and crushed Tylenol PM, or any similar cold
medicine containing a sleep aid. It has spread fastest in a cluster of
middle and high schools in northwest Dallas.

Rehab centers also are reporting a surge in requests for treatment
from students, some as young as 9, who are hooked on the drug.

Don Smith, a research manager in the Dallas County Juvenile
Department, has noticed the increase in felony drug cases turned in by
school district police.

"We still do get the cocaine cases and the methamphetamines, but
what's fueled this increase has been the 'cheese' epidemic," Smith
said. "This one is very disconcerting because they're targeting such a
young population."