Kids Now Enjoying Tylenol PM With Their Heroin

With heroin flowing into the city at an alarming rate, Federal officials are warning the NYPD to be on the lookout for the drug. The Health Department says the number of city high schoolers who have tried heroin rose from 1.3% in 2007 to 2.6% in 2009, and now users have discovered it's even easier to snort when mixed with crushed up Tylenol PM—a highly-addictive combination called "cheese." Apparently the ridiculous name isn't enough to keep teens away.

"Cheese" hasn't been seen much in New York yet (it started getting noticed in Dallas around 2005), but DEA officials say it's a logical step for heroin users looking for a cheap high. Users reportedly need to snort it up to 15 times a day, which results in a possibly lethal dosage of acetaminophen to go with all that heroin. Dealers are also marketing their products to a younger audience, labeling the glassine bags with names like "Mickey Mouse" and "Lady Gaga." We get that the teens like Lady Gaga, but are they trying to market to six-year-olds with the Mickey Mouse stuff?

While teaching NYPD officers how to "spot cheese," one NYPD commander said, "It can ruin lives." The dad of one teenager who overdosed on the mixture also said, "Parents need to be scared of this stuff. Every day I look at [my son's] picture and I wish that I spent the 40 grand a month to send him away to get some help." Frankly, if you're already doing heroin, we're not entirely sure why you need the Tylenol PM to take the edge off even further. Whatever you do, just make sure you do it right.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on October 12, 2010 12:31 PM

Comments [rss]

mmmwright

Jack Schaefer of Slate points out a number of questions in this kind of story:

http://slate.me/cmRjJN

Bike Rider

heavy metal theme song

Tony

Isn’t it enough to say that more young kids are using heroin to shock us (preferably into some sort of action)?

Perhaps now that it looks like ‘pot’ is becoming legal we in the media need another menace with a name from your common kitchen, that’s capable of serially selling click-throughs by using, what else, “extreme hyperbole.”

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/10/20-dead-in-nyc-from-cheese-americas-newest-teenage-drug-fad/

jaycjay

Huh? Where'd you get that "20 dead" thing? Just make it up in the shameless pandering for website traffic?

According to the article, law enforcement officials are saying it isn't even appearing in NYC yet... they just think we should be scared of it. I mean, be prepared for it.

hunter.blatherer

Of course, it's the legal drug that authorities have to warn will kill you.

OSN!

Why is dope cut with base? Same reason the consumer product in your bathroom or food in your kitchen is cut $$$$$$.

Acetaminophen and heroin is a deadly mix in the long term. Human rat poison.

flynn110

didn't south park have an episode where everyone was "cheesing"? i believe it involved letting a cat spray urine in your face until you tripped out and went to a boob filled metal wonderland.

fuboy

Am I the only one wondering why a rehab stint is so expensive? 40,000 a month is expensive, but it's not unheard of.

It's not like celebrities are the only one with drug problems, and if you're addicted to drugs you've probably smoked/snorted/shot-up most of your money.

Or do we just not care about redeeming junkies?

John L

Cheese? Never heard of it.

But parents really have to be careful with their own prescription drugs because a lot of kids are just popping pills these days.

jaycjay

So... it's a way to extend heroin, effectively making it cheaper at around $2 a hit. Which makes it more accessible to younger potential users.

But, while it's been big in Dallas it hasn't been seen yet in NYC. Few people here have even heard of it.

Thanks, DEA, for teaching NYC how to make heroin cheap enough for our kids!

random transplant

Ahh, highschool parlance.

This article makes me nostalgic for popping a couple dancing condoms & candy-flipping out to some Bungle while letting a friend live off my busts so he can add his chron to my mersh for a mixed salad cone.

Investors take note, the future of American Pharma & Marketing looks to remain competitive.

TK

It was originally called Parmigiano-Reggiano until EU officials got huffy about it not actually coming from the Parma region.

JenChungsBaby

I like mine cut with a good pecorino romano.

Rocknrope

Sigh...drug addicts and their lack of creative naming conventions these days.

el192

There was a hilarious stand-up routine by Kumail Nanjiani about Cheese that was featured on This American Life:

http://www.pakistan.tv/videos-kumail-nanjiani-on-new-drug-called-%5Bk1cvKcGVy6k%5D.cfm