Teens in the Dallas metropolitan area remain in the throes of a "cheese heroin" crisis that began about three years ago.

• Treatment centers had been reporting increases in the number of young people entering for heroin abuse, though this appears to be leveling off.
• In 2006, 210 teenagers from North Texas entered treatment for heroin; in 2007, it was 467 -- but by 2008, that rate had risen to 434.
• Many of the young people in treatment for girls.
• Between 2005 and 2009, 30 or more teenagers under age 18 years old died in the Dallas area of "cheese heroin," which is a combination of heroin and sleeping pills.

"It hasn't let up, says Janet Anselmo-Henson, manager of the Dallas County juvenile department's substance abuse programs. "Kids are still using, and they are starting at a young age. We are seeing kids who later graduated to injecting heroin, not just snorting it."


 

Labels: teen_drug_use, heroin, cheese

Posted By: Jane St. Clair