October 12, 2010
"Cheese" — a powder made from heroin and crushed Tylenol PM — will kill you... apparently because of the Tylenol.
The drug is marketed to teenagers — with appropriated brand names like Mickey Mouse, Lady Gaga, Looney Tunes and Lion King — and they snort it many times a day, ingesting way too much acetaminophen.
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20 comments:
So take the tylenol out and then it outta be safe.
That's the ticket!
Duh.
Everyone knows Tylenol is just a gateway drug. They are trying to legalize it in Boca Raton to bring out the elderly Jewish vote.
Wasn't this a south Park episode?
Another Tylenol killer. Hopefully the cops can nail this one! The original, James Lewis, remains free.
Thanks for the heads up, Ann. It might have been a bad scene. You know, man?
There's something voyeuristic about middle-age folk engaging teenage culture.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. - 1 Corinthians 13.1: New Living Translation
Wasn't this a south Park episode?
The kids call it 'cheesing' because it's Fon to Due.
Tylenol PM uses an antihistamine, diphenhydramine HCl, as its sleep aid. That's the exact same ingredient that's in Benadryl. So why not just use generic Benadryl instead of a product with acetaminophen? Are there restrictions on purchasing Benadryl over-the-counter now?
Sounds like it could be a candidate for Jack Shafer's "Bogus Drug Story of the Week" over at Slate.
The only hard data in the story seems to be a reported increase of 1.3% to 2.6% in self-reported numbers of teens who have tried heroin. What's the standard error?
Otherwise it's the usual uncritical repetition of what law enforcement types tel reporters.
According to The Blonde, Tylenol works through the liver and is potentiated by the heroin. Large amounts make the liver shut down.
Ghastly stuff.
As a Philly talk show host asked (paraphrased, on a totally unrelated subject), "Wonder why there's a war on drugs?".
Acetaminophen metabolism uses up glutathione, a potent antioxidant 3-amino acid peptide. Once the glutathione is no longer available, a toxic metabolite damages the liver. This can occur in a healthy person with a good liver taking about 12 grams at once, acutely, or chronically especially in people who have diminished capacity to metabolize drugs due to liver disease etc. It is probably a good idea to take NAC, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, which is used to treat Tylenol poisoning acutely and is available in health food stores, if one is taking acetaminophen routinely. This may be more important if taking other medications that rely on glutathione or if drinking alcohol.
I'll never watch a Wallace & Gromit cartoon the same way again.
I'll second what MB said. I can tell you from personal experience taking it for pain after a shoulder injurty that acetaminophen can do some unpleasant stuff to men, and the amount that is borderline toxic is not that distant from the maximum recommended dose.
Moe, Larry, the Cheese...
"heroin is doing the heavy lifting"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVIC2gJTD9s
Does this make them Cheeseheads?
Ironies abound. (The FDA requires acetaminophen be added to prescription opiate painkillers, specifically so they'll kill you if you take more than prescribed.)
Here's what I wrote about "cheese" in 2007: http://slate.me/cmRjJN
--Jack Shafer
As a Philly talk show host asked (paraphrased, on a totally unrelated subject), "Wonder why there's a war on drugs?".
But the war on drugs is the cause of problems like this. If drugs were legal there would be no potentially fatal home-brewed concoctions like 'cheese'.
I am addicted to cheese...the stuff that comes from a cow. Or occasionally a sheep (love that peccorino romano...).
Too much of that can kill you too, but it is so very good.
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