MEDIA BLITZ AIMS TO STEM 'MONSTER' METH PROBLEM

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Dan Lungren introduced a federally funded
media campaign yesterday meant to stem the use of methamphetamine, a
powerful stimulant he said has "spread like a cancer throughout this state."

The campaign features television, radio and billboard ads discouraging meth
use and a new World Wide Web site where users can find information on the
drug known variously as "meth" and "crank."

More than other illegal substances, meth presents a multitude of challenges
for law enforcement, said Lungren, the Republican nominee for governor.
Users become paranoid and violent; manufacturing the drug involves a brew of
volatile chemicals; and those who "cook" meth often damage the environment
by dumping those chemicals.

"I don't know of any other drug that has all of these evil manifestations,"
Lungren said at the University of California Davis Medical Center.

"California's methamphetamine problem is truly a multiheaded monster. The
consequences of using the drug and the costs and danger associated with the
aftermath of environmental hazards all need to be addressed," he said.

To heighten public awareness of the drug, Lungren said, his office will tap
an $18.2 million federal grant that it requested several months ago.

Some $1.8 million will go toward a public education campaign. The grant
financed the production of the ads, and the state will spend $900,000 of the
federal money on placing the broadcast ads.

The grant money will also finance the hiring of 131 narcotics agents,
criminologists and lab technicians, Lungren said.

The attorney general showed reporters two TV spots that were to begin airing
yesterday. Two other spots are planned.

One ad shows an inviting, lush forest tainted by a man who dumps meth
byproducts. A boy is heard saying, "Hey, Dad, look at this!" as the camera
shows a dead bunny.

The other spot portrays a creepy world as seen through the eyes of a meth
user. At the end, a young man pulls a gun on his own family.

The campaign also includes 55 billboards that are to be rotated throughout
the state. One, displayed at the news conference, reads, "Where meth goes,
violence follows."

All the signs direct the public to a Web site launched late Sunday that
dispenses information on meth and other drugs.

Last year, the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement raided 977 meth labs,
more than triple the number from 1990. Local authorities seized an
additional 713 labs in the state last year.

Although other states are experiencing meth problems, the manufacture and
use of the drug is worst in California, Lungren said.

The problem is so bad here that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency recently
labeled California "a source nation" for meth production and distribution,
Lungren said.

"Methamphetamine has been manufactured here . . . for decades. It is not
something new. While once considered the poor man's cocaine, however, meth
use and production has now spread like a cancer throughout this state,"
Lungren said.

Meth is sold in powder or pill form and can be smoked, snorted, swallowed or
injected. Methamphetamine typically costs $600 to $800 an ounce. Most people
on the street buy the drug in quarter-gram or gram increments. A
quarter-gram goes for about $20, said state Department of Justice spokesman
Bill Maile.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"