GEORGIA METH PROJECT: GRAPHIC ADS GENERATE BUZZ

Program Manager Says Mexico Is Making Cheaper, Stronger Meth

The ads don't always have the desired effect.

A volunteer attending a Georgia Meth Project program Tuesday at the
Columbus Public Library recalled her 10-year-old's reaction to a
radio ad in which an actor portraying an addict talked about beating
up his brother to get money to buy drugs.

Mommy, when will I be old enough to try meth?" the boy asked. To him
it sounded like a Pepsi commercial, his mother said.

That's not the reaction the Meth Project hoped to provoke with its
multi-million-dollar ad campaign graphically illustrating the horrors
of methamphetamine, which is estimated to cost Georgia $1.3 billion a
year in medical care, social services, incarceration and law enforcement.

But 10-year-olds aren't the target audience, said Latrina Patrick,
program manager for the nonprofit.

Patrick said the primary targets are those age 12-17; secondary are
those 18-24. Parents make up the third group the campaign's intended
to reach, she said.

To younger kids who don't grasp the ads' importance, parents must
explain the context, she said.

Prime time

The ad campaign constitutes a considerable investment, consuming
about 95 percent of the Meth Project's annual $6 million budget. Each
ad cost from $400,000 to $800,000 to produce, but that was a one-time
cost because the same ads are used in each of the eight states now
employing the campaign Montana inaugurated in 2005.

What eats up the money now is the air time. The Meth Project doesn't
do public service announcements, which typically air late at night to
a dwindling audience. It buys prime-time slots, so viewers see meth
addiction explicitly depicted during commercial breaks in shows such
as "Dancing With the Stars," "Desperate Housewives," "The Biggest
Loser" and "Parks and Recreation."

Patrick said other nonprofits fighting drug abuse have noted the
difference between public service announcements and purchased air time.

By September's end, the campaign will have bought about 16,300 TV
ads, 15,800 radio ads, 100,000 print ads and 300 billboards.

Monochrome meth

Because the campaign template was molded out West, it's missing
something, the absence of which some here in Georgia have noticed -
ethnic diversity.

Tuesday's program at the library was for volunteers who want to help
the Meth Project with local community programs. One of those
volunteers was Stephanie Alexander-Green, who asked Patrick why all
the people in the ads are white.

That's because of where the ads originated and were first used,
Patrick said. In Montana, originally, and then in Idaho, Wyoming and
Colorado, she said.

Everyone looks like they're in Wyoming, Idaho," Patrick said.

And in a more ethnically diverse state like Georgia, that makes some
residents think meth will never affect them.

I've had people tell me flat-out: 'This is not my problem,'" Patrick said.

But the problem is going to spread, she said.

Atlanta is a distribution hub for meth coming from Mexico, and the
imported drug is getting cheaper and stronger. Anyone in the market
for a cheaper, stronger high is likely to try it," Patrick said.

The Georgia Meth Project is now getting brochures that picture more
racially diverse people, she said.

Come clean or die

Miranda Burlington said she's a former addict, and found the Meth
Project ads reflective of her experience. "I lost everything I had,"
she said. To bankroll her addiction, she stole $1,400 from her
grandmother, and in just 21/2 months blew $42,000 she was awarded
after being injured in an on-the-job accident. She punched her mother
three times during an altercation, she said.

She got clean in December 2006, after going to jail for 60 days. She
reached a juncture at which she had but one choice - straighten up or
die. "I couldn't stand myself anymore," she said.

Now she wants to keep others from suffering that.

Graeme Smith, a Columbus State University criminal justice major,
said she had friends who had used meth. They beat their addiction,
too, but sometimes still speak wistfully of the euphoria they felt on the drug.

I hear them talk about meth as if it's an old flame that got away," she said.