ANTI-METH ADS GETTING NOTICED

The statewide campaign doesn't dance around. It's graphic and gritty
advertising that doesn't worry about upsetting those who see it.

Instead, the "ZeroMeth" program targets teen and young-adult
Alabamians with an in-your-face campaign that shows the horrid world
of methamphetamine use.

Judging by comments from young Shoals residents, it appears to be
getting plenty of attention.

"It made me sick," said Casey Thorn, an 18-year-old Northwest-Shoals
Community College student. "It doesn't look like something you'd want
to do."

Law enforcement officials in the Shoals say a lot of people haven't
gotten the message. Many agents involved in investigating and
prosecuting drug-related cases say meth has become the biggest problem
facing law enforcement. Many say the problem is growing.

The graphic nature of the ads is obviously eye-opening for
some.

"Those commercials are pretty graphic, but I'm glad they are," said
Central High School student Olivia Nicke, 16. "It really proves a
point. People don't understand how bad it is until they see it with
their own eyes."

Nicke said advertisements at her school show photos that depict a
woman who seemingly ages by decades during the span of only a few years.

Television commercials associated with the campaign show addicts
suffering with needles hanging out of their arms.

Billboards show people with severe tooth decay. The "meth mouth" is
from using the drug, based on the advertisement message.

"When I see it, I just want to run away from people like that," said
University of North Alabama student Justin Fowlkes.

Josh Pierce, who lives in Lauderdale County, said a former neighbor
has used meth. The neighbor is now in prison.

"The stuff's bad," Pierce said. "I don't ever want to get mixed up in
that."

Pierce is impressed by the aggressive campaign. "I didn't know what
the commercials were when I first saw them, but I kind of figured it
out after a commercial or two."

Even the campaign's Web site, zerometh.com, is relentless, with creepy
images and quotes from unidentified meth users who greet you with each
click.

"My family is scared of me," a 21-year-old user declares on the
site.

In another segment, a 16-year-old user says, "I didn't think it would
ever get this bad."

A 20-year-old woman also had a message. "I used to be pretty. No one
said I'd end up looking like this."

Gov. Bob Riley, the state's congressional delegation and the Alabama
District Attorneys Association are among the program's sponsors.

"The goal is to arm our children with explicit, firsthand knowledge of
meth use - without ever having to come near the drug," said Ken Davis,
president of the District Attorneys Association.

The Blount County District Attorney's office is credited with being
instrumental in starting the campaign. The office has made a DVD
called "Crystal Death" that is available at no charge. Information on
the DVD is available at blountda.com.

Local authorities say meth is a major problem in the area, and the
number of arrests proves their point.

During the past 10 days, there have been 26 meth-related arrests in
Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties. That includes 23 arrests in
Franklin County during a six-day period.

"Methamphetamine is by far the most difficult problem law enforcement
is facing," Franklin District Attorney Joey Rushing said. "That is
because meth is cheap to purchase, relatively easy to make and very
addictive."

Rushing has heard reports of people becoming addicts after one use. He
added the addiction is difficult to overcome.

"For the most part, the ones we have seen successfully stop using the
drug go through long-term treatment of six months or more," Rushing
said. "This problem is even worse in rural areas because some
individuals will try to manufacture methamphetamine in isolated locations.

"What the recent rash of arrests indicates to me is that individuals
have become so addicted to this horrible drug that they are willing to
risk their lives, their health and definitely their freedom."

Lauderdale Drug Task Force officials say they had 22 cases in 2007
that involved meth.

In Colbert County, four meth labs were found and 14 arrests made in
2007.

"I can't say that meth is our most prominent drug," said Colbert Drug
Task Force Director Curtis Burns, noting that crack cocaine remains
the biggest problem. "But meth is a problem - and a growing problem."

Law enforcement officials are having some success in fighting the
problem. They point to statistics that include:

- - In 2004, 226.5 metric tons of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in
meth, were imported from Mexico. That amount was reduced to 43.4
metric tons in 2006.

- - Some 1,327 meth labs were seized in the Southeast in 2005, down from
2,241 labs in 2004.

- - After reaching a high of 404 meth labs in Alabama in 2004, that
number was reduced to 150 in 2006.

Many agents wonder what the 2007 stats will show, though.

"This is a problem that is growing every day, and anything that can be
done needs to be done," said Lauderdale County Sheriff Ronnie Willis.
"This ad campaign is very proactive, and that's what it's going to
take to battle this drug before it becomes an epidemic."

Tennessee also is working on extensive awareness campaigns.

"We go to schools, trying to get the message across," said Mike
Bottoms, district attorney general in Wayne, Lawrence, Giles and Maury
counties. "We felt we needed to educate the youth before they were
exposed to it. We tried to cover every school in the state."

Presentations were made to about 9,000 students in Bottoms'
four-county area in 2006, he said.

"We had a man who had a lot of problems with meth talk to them,"
Bottoms said. "This was a reality program - show them what it does.

"It burns up the receptors in your brain. The first time you use it,
that high is so great that you try and try to get that back and never
will. It just eats you alive."