GRAPHIC TV ADS TAKE AIM AT DANGERS OF CRYSTAL METH

CALGARY (CanWest News Service) - A TV commercial depicting crystal meth
users vomiting, fighting and breaking out in sores is hitting the airwaves
as part of a $450,000 government campaign aimed at preventing young people
from using the drug.

Cheap and highly addictive, crystal meth has ravaged several northwestern
U.S. states and is threatening to make serious inroads in Alberta and
neighbouring provinces.

The four-week television campaign launched by the Alberta Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission this week is part of a public awareness strategy to deter
youths from trying crystal meth in the first place.

"We want to avoid any further progress of this drug," said Calgary-Lougheed
MLA Dave Rodney, who is the chairman of AADAC.

With prolonged use, however, addicts can become paranoid and violent and
can suffer potentially life-threatening physical ailments -- a point driven
home in the commercial as the once-smiling woman vomits and the man's face
breaks out in sores as they argue violently.