Dallas Retailers Pull OTC Drugs Over Illicit Mixture Fears

DALLAS — Some food and drug retailers here, including at least four Houston-based Fiesta Supermarkets, have stopped selling or have restricted access to Tylenol PM, Advil PM and some generic over-the-counter medications containing diphenhydramine hydrochloride, an antihistamine sleep aid. Managers at the Fiesta store realized the medications were disappearing off shelves due to shoplifting. The culprits, Fiesta store manager Dennis Daily told the Dallas Morning News, are area youths who need the ingredient to create a heroin mix known as “cheese.” The concoction contains small amounts of heroin mixed with crushed Tylenol PM tablets, or the equivalent, and is snorted as a powder. It has been blamed for the deaths of 23 Dallas areas teens since 2005. The active ingredients from Tylenol PM, Xanax or other drugs cushion users coming down from the heroin while providing a secondary high, according to the Dallas Morning News. “We weren’t told by anybody to do it, but we did it ourselves,” Daily reported of his store’s decision. “We didn’t want to be part of the problem or anybody dying.”

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