ARIZONANS MUST WORK TO BUILD AN INTOLERANT CLIMATE FOR METH

Sam is visiting his doctor and suffering from respiratory problems.
But what he doesn't know is that he has moved into a house where
methamphetamine was cooked. The public service announcement concludes:
"So, who has the drug problem now? Find out how meth affects you at
drugfree.org/meth."

It seems everywhere you turn, the headlines in the newspaper or on
television feature a story about methamphetamine. Meth grabs our
attention because of its unique "secondhand" impact beyond the
individual user. The manufacture and distribution of meth have been
shown to cause significant damage to the environment and
infrastructure of communities, and is a drain on community resources.

Meth users are prone to violence and neglectful behavior, and so they
inflict physical and psychological harm not only on themselves but on
their children, their families, neighbors and on local law enforcement
agencies.

But is meth overshadowing even more urgent issues?

Arizona research shows that stimulant/meth use among our children is
low (past month's use is reported at 1.6 percent for eighth-graders,
2.8 percent for 10th-graders and 3 percent for 12th-graders, according
to the 2004 Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Survey).

"Based on current measures of adult and youth substance use,
methamphetamine is one of the least-used drugs relative to alcohol,
tobacco and marijuana. Inhalants and cocaine are used slightly more
than methamphetamine," according to an October 2005 report by the
Arizona Epidemiology Work Group.

If local and national studies indicate that youth meth use is
decreasing (and we anxiously await ACJC's next survey later this
year), should we continue to devote such resources to preventing teen
meth use?

Absolutely.

The average age of first drug use in Arizona is 13, and the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Arizona chapter, strongly
believes that any drug use by our children is unacceptable.
Methamphetamine is highly addictive and dangerous. To have an impact,
any meth public awareness campaign must not only target teens but
parents and the concerned adults in our children's lives. And with
meth, the community must be engaged.

The goal of our community strategy is to awaken a sense of outrage
among all of us that our community should not be subjected to the
scourge of meth. We want to motivate you to find out what action you
can take to help build a climate of intolerance for meth. This will
make it difficult for meth cookers and traffickers to gain a foothold,
and difficult for citizens, especially adolescents and young adults,
to drift into meth use.

The non-profit Partnership for a Drug-Free America has 20 years of
prevention experience and is highly regarded for its effective media
campaigns and public awareness programs. We are best known for our
first public service announcement in 1987: "This is your brain. This
is your brain on drugs. Any questions?" The partnership has always
used a consumer marketing approach to "unsell" drugs, developing
persuasive messages based on the extensive research of our consumers:
teens and parents.

The partnership's effective campaigns have helped reduce cocaine,
inhalant and Ecstasy use. Now, there is a new threat to the children
of Arizona. Valley resident Stacy Hall's family is just one example of
that new threat. Her son Adam tragically died of a prescription-drug
overdose, and the drugs that ended his life were not prescribed to
him.

Our most recent survey shows that 2,700 children try a prescription
drug to get high every day. One out of five children has used a
prescription painkiller to get high, and one out of 10 has used an
over-the-counter product to get high. The National Institute on Drug
Abuse is calling the misuse and abuse of prescription and
over-the-counter drugs by teens "an epidemic." This summer, we will
release public service announcements to address this new trend.

Yes, meth is a threat to our teens. But so is prescription and
over-the-counter drug use, increasing inhalant use and the continued
high level of teen marijuana and alcohol use. Arizona can count on the
partnership to continue addressing the trends affecting our children.

We will lead the way with our community partners to educate Arizonans
about all the drug threats to our children through a comprehensive
prevention approach. We will continue to provide the highest-quality
public service campaigns in English and Spanish. We will continue to
encourage parents to talk with their children about drugs early and
often because research shows that children who learn about the risks
of drugs from their parents are up to 50 percent less likely to use.

We are proud to serve as volunteer leaders of the partnership's first
chapter. We have our own local board of directors made up of key
business and community leaders and a local operating budget to devote
to Arizona and its communities. Our chapter is young, yet volunteers
have supported the partnership here in Arizona since the early '90s,
and we have made extraordinary progress.

Our campaigns are built on a pro bono model for sustainability, and we
are grateful for the generosity of the communications industry with
more than $3.7 billion in donated advertising to date here in Arizona
and across the country.

We recognize that there is a lot more work that needs to be done and
the reality is that additional resources can help us accomplish so
much more and build on the successful work to date.

Thanks to the Legislature, House Bill 2554 passed last week. The bill
will provide counties with $3 million to address meth. We urge the
counties to devote funding to prevention. It works!

We also urge our public officials to evaluate their approach to meth
prevention, to spend public dollars wisely, to not duplicate resources
and to invest and partner with local organizations. We want what's
best for Arizona families.