Cheese Heroin: What It Is And How It’s Used

Cheese heroin is a low-cost, highly addictive street drug made by mixing Mexican black tar heroin with over-the-counter cold medications containing diphenhydramine. The finished product contains less than three percent pure heroin, but its combination of opioid and antihistamine effects makes it dangerously addictive, and its rock-bottom price makes it accessible to people who would never be able to afford traditional heroin.

The drug first gained widespread attention in North Texas and the Dallas area in the mid-2000s, where it spread rapidly through middle and high schools before law enforcement and public health officials began sounding the alarm. Despite its low heroin content, cheese heroin was responsible for a number of overdose deaths, hospitalizations, and new heroin addictions among young people.

Learn more about types of heroin

Factors That Affect Addiction To Cheese Heroin

Several factors contributed to cheese heroin’s rapid spread and high addiction rates, particularly among young people. The drug’s biggest draw is its price, as it’s sold in small plastic bags or plastic wrap for just a few dollars, it is a fraction of the cost of traditional heroin, making it accessible to school-aged kids. The fact that it can be produced easily using over-the-counter medications and small amounts of black tar heroin also keeps production costs minimal.

Because cheese heroin contains such a small amount of actual heroin, its euphoric and sedative effects are shorter-lived than those of purer forms of the drug, which means doses are often taken in rapid succession to maintain the high. This pattern of repeated dosing accelerates the development of tolerance and physical dependence.

How Cheese Heroin Is Used

Because cheese heroin contains significantly less amounts of heroin than other varieties, the euphoric and sedative effects quickly diminish. This requires multiple doses of the drug in order to maintain effects. It also leads quickly to drug tolerance and addiction. Cheese heroin is easy to produce with over-the-counter medicine tablets and powdered heroin.

Medications like Tylenol PM are crushed and mixed with heroin. When finished, the drug can be injected intravenously or smoked for an intense and dangerous high.

How Cheese Heroin Compares To Other Types Of Heroin

Cheese heroin is made with black tar heroin. Black tar heroin is known for its black color and solid, sticky consistency. It differs from other powdered forms of heroin which are white or brown in color. Black tar heroin is usually less pure than white powder heroin, ranging from a 25 percent purity and less.

Because of its lower purity level, and because only a small amount of the drug is used to produce cheese heroin, the finished product leads to an extremely low price. Cheese heroin may sell at just a few dollars compared to upwards of $200 for a gram of regular heroin.

Side Effects Of Cheese Heroin

Heroin has several severe short-term and long-term side effects that cause damage to both physical and mental health. The most dangerous risks from heroin usage are attributed to the sedative qualities of the drug that can lead to cessation of breathing and heart rate.

Some short-term side effects of heroin drug use include:

• decreased breathing and heart rate
• flushing
• nausea
• increased appetite
• slow reflexes
• decreased pain
• inability to concentrate
• relaxation or drowsiness

Long-term effects caused by heroin could include acne and pustules on the skin, oral damage and tooth decay, weak immune system, cognitive decline, memory loss, permanent organ damage, and more.

Can Cheese Heroin Lead To Overdose?

Drug dealers use heroin, morphine, and other dangerous cutting agents when producing cheese heroin that causes central nervous system depression and can lead to respiratory failure when used in large amounts.

Overdose risk increases when mixed with the following substances:

• depressants
• antihistamines
• over-the-counter medications
• alcohol

Emergency cases of heroin overdoses are treated with naloxone (Narcan). This opioid antagonist blocks heroin and may reverse the effects of overdose when administered early.

Getting Treatment For Heroin Addiction

Often, it is difficult for people with a heroin addiction to achieve sobriety without addiction treatment. Heroin substance use treatment centers may use methadone for opiate withdrawal, counseling, and other forms of treatment to ensure long-term recovery from heroin.

For more helpful information about recovery services, browse our directory or contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).