GUV HOOKED ON MONTANA'S ANTI-METH ADS

Huntsman: He Hopes The Shocking Spots Would Help Deter Use In Utah

A youthful blonde approaches a circle of teenagers at an outdoor
party and asks, "What about me?" "You want meth, kid? Here's your
meth," says a man emerging from the shadows with a glass pipe. The
camera cuts to two lecherous-looking men, a squealing baby and a
close-up of the blonde with sunken eyes and oozing scabs as the
voice-over says, "And here's your meth dealer, your meth boyfriends,
your meth baby, and don't forget, your meth face." Ads like this have
invaded prime-time television, covered billboards and saturated radio
shows in Montana as part of the Montana Meth Project, a shock-and-awe
style campaign graphically depicting the ugly underbelly of
methamphetamine use. And Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants to blitz Utah
with a similar ad campaign, though some in Utah's drug treatment and
prevention community are skeptical about Montana's meth-fighting
methods. "We will be working on a meth initiative," Huntsman
promised. "This is becoming an epidemic that must be addressed
communitywide." The Montana project is funded by tech billionaire
Thomas Siebel, who has personally overseen the creation of the ads
meant to stop teens from trying meth by terrifying them. Huntsman and
Siebel hobnobbed at a recent Western Governors Association meeting
and afterward Siebel accepted an invitation to come to Utah. He is
expected to arrive at the end of the month, in an attempt to persuade
the governor's meth task force that his prevention campaign is worth
adopting. But members of the task force say the ads target the wrong
population and unrealistically portray all meth addicts as twitchy,
pock-marked junkies who will do anything for their next fix. "There
are some who think they're a little hard-hitting for Utah. My kids
didn't. They watched them, and it got their attention," said Patrick
Fleming, a task force member and Salt Lake County substance abuse
director. "But kids are so literal.

The fear is that they'll be quick to discount depictions of
deteriorating teens with scabs on their faces, because they know kids
who have used meth two or three times and who look pretty normal."
Peg Shea, the Montana Meth Project's executive director, said teens
have told her the ads are like a train wreck, unpleasant to watch but
impossible to turn away from. One TV spot shows a girl fantasizing
about being killed in a car crash on the way to the party where she
first tried meth. Death, she suggests, would be preferable to
addiction. Radio ads feature real addicts, such as 15-year-old Cindy
who prostituted herself for the drug. The print messages are no less jarring.

One pictures a dirty toilet in a public stall with the words: "No one
thinks they'll lose their virginity here. Meth will change that."
Huntsman has shown a few of the ads to his 15-year-old son William.
"The next thing he said is 'No, I don't want to see any more. I get
the message,'" Huntsman said. "They really are powerful." He hopes
such an unflinching look at a drug that many don't understand could
reduce its wide ranging impacts on the state. "Our prisons, health
care, human services, social services, even the level of productivity
in our economy is impacted by meth," Huntsman said. A form of speed
that is smoked, snorted or injected, meth is a potent stimulant with
long-lasting effects.

It is cheap and easy to purchase, appealing Advertisementto teens,
soccer moms, blue-collar workers and club hoppers alike. Once a
problem confined to Western mountain states, meth has made inroads
east. But Utah has wrestled with the so-called meth "epidemic" for years.

And despite efforts to contain it, the drug remains the No. 1 illegal
substance of choice as reported by Utahns in public treatment - a
rank it has held for five straight years. Meth changes a person's
brain chemistry, disrupts sleep patterns, can lead to malnutrition,
paranoia and hallucinations. Some addicts develop sores from
obsessively clawing at their skin and the drug's drying effect on
saliva glands can contribute to tooth decay and gum disease.

But these conditions are more closely linked to homelessness, abusive
relationships and the underground criminal lifestyle that can
accompany drug use, said Luciano Colonna, director of Utah's Harm
Reduction Project. "Most kids are probably living at home and enjoy
more stable lifestyles. It will be awhile before they sink to that
level. . . . We're dealing with the mind of adolescence. They don't
look very far ahead." Colonna also said, "The Montana campaign hasn't
been around long enough to know if it works." Siebel founded the Meth
Project in February 2005 and the first ads were released in
September. The project also has 150 volunteers who make presentations
and participate in public events. The project is now the state's
biggest advertiser and Shea estimates that every teen sees the ads at
least three times each week. In March, the project conducted a survey
that showed Montana residents were much more aware of the
consequences of taking meth. But Shea understands the survey results
may not convince everyone. "The whole concept of behavior change
takes time," she said. "That is why prevention is so hard to fund, it
is not an immediate production." The governor's office point person,
Michele Christiansen, said any similar Utah project would need a
large amount of cash both from government and private sources.

But before searching for the money, Huntsman needs to get the
community on board. Huntsman has the backing of state Rep. Pat Jones,
D-Salt Lake City, whom he asked to participate in Siebel's visit to
Utah. "I think it is absolutely right on. I would love to see
something like this in Utah," she said. "Get [people] thinking about
it before they even want to try it." Task force members also applaud
the governor for taking a leadership role, but argue that any Utah
campaign should target young mothers instead of teens. Jones agrees,
saying she is heartbroken about a new law enforcement acronym:
"dipmoms," which stands for "dad in prison, mom on meth." "It is sad
that we now have a new name for this insidious problem."