New 'Starter Heroin' Worries Police

April 28, 2006 — -- It provides a cheap high and is accessible to teens, and now a new type of "starter heroin" has law enforcement officials concerned.

"Cheese" -- a mixture of the drugs in Tylenol PM and heroin -- was involved in at least 54 felony offenses in the Dallas area between Aug. 15, 2005 and March 1, 2006, according to the Dallas Independent School District Police Department.

Popular among Hispanic youth, some as young as 13, the mixture is a tan-colored powder that is snorted like cocaine, police said.

The highly-addictive "cheese" creates euphoria, disorientation, lethargy, sleepiness and hunger, police said, and withdrawal symptoms may appear as soon as 12 hours of discontinued use. Users told police the symptoms, including headaches, chills, muscle pains and anxiety, are so severe that they return to using the drug regularly within one to three days.

Costing as little as $2 per dose, the drug has been found in at least 11 Dallas secondary schools, police said.

The school district police have been working with the Dallas Police Department to follow the new trend.

"It's a serious concern," said Senior Cpl. Max Geron of the Dallas Police Department. "It's by far not the biggest drug problem in the school district, but it's something that's emerging."

Initially, police found that adults manufactured cheese and sold it to teens who in turn sold it to others, Geron said. Now, they find adults are selling black-tar heroin to the teens along with instructions on how to mix it with acetaminophen and diphenhydramine HCI, the ingredients in Tylenol PM.

While officials are concerned, Don Claxton, spokesman for the school district, told ABC News that cheese remains a small problem compared to other drugs. He said the district has had 357 cases of marijuana use and 54 cheese cases.

"You do the math," Claxton said.

ABC News' Mike Von Fremd contributed to this report.