DALTON YOUTH SERVE IN ANTI-METH CAMPAIGN

The teen's eyes stare at you from the photograph -- bloodshot and
vacant over lips that are scabbed and peeling.

"Actually, doing meth won't make it easier to hook up," reads the
caption.

That image and many others like it are part of a controversial
advertising campaign aimed at deterring methamphetamine use among
teenagers. First launched in Montana four years ago by the Montana
Meth Project, the ads have spread to several other states. Next year,
the nonprofit Georgia Meth Project will bring the ads to this state.

"After these start to run, there may be people who will say, 'Is the
drug problem really that bad that we have to run these kinds of ads?'
and you'll have law enforcement, health care professionals and former
addicts who'll say 'The problem is that bad. This is not an
exaggeration. This is something that everybody needs to pay attention
to,'" said Jim Langford, executive director of the Georgia Meth Project.

Langford said the ads will launch in the first quarter of 2010, as
early as January if all goes according to plan.

"It is a proven campaign. It has TV, radio, billboards. It has a
community involvement component. It's a prevention campaign. It's a
huge marketing campaign," Langford said. "The radio ads are real kids
telling real stories, their own personal stories. We found that a
school administrator or another adult standing in front of a bunch of
kids doesn't have a very big effect. If you have stories that are
believable and you have kids telling other kids about these drugs, it
seems to have a very strong effect."

He believes the ads will have a strong impact.

"These are not going to be ads running late at night when nobody is
watching. They'll run in the afternoons when kids are watching TV and
at night when adults and kids are watching," he said.

Businessman Lee Shaw said the Georgia Meth Project got under way last
year, when Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker invited him and
other business leaders to discuss the meth problem in Georgia. At
that meeting, they heard from Tom Siebel, who had helped create the
Montana Meth Project.

"I saw what a large problem it is in Georgia, and North Georgia,
where I'm from originally, had one of the worst problems in the state
of Georgia," Shaw said. "We had the problem identified. We had the
solution to the problem identified. We just needed to get someone to
take the initiative."

The Montana Meth Project claims that teen meth use has dropped by 63
percent since the ad campaign started there, that adult meth use has
dropped 73 percent, and that meth-related crime has dropped 62 percent.

Critics note that teen meth use in the state had been falling for six
years before the campaign started. And a study published last year in
the peer-reviewed journal Prevention Science found that the Montana
Meth Project's own data suggest that prolonged exposure to the ads
may lead teens to believe meth use is acceptable and not dangerous.

The 1936 film "Reefer Madness" was rediscovered in the 1970s and
became an unintentional comedy hit among young people because of the
way it exaggerated the harm from marijuana use. Langford said the
meth project ads will not meet a similar fate.

"That will not be the case this time. They were so careful the way
they pulled these professionals together. They wanted to make the ads
very realistic in terms of how the drug is used, very realistic about
how it affects kids and parents, so nobody can say that 'That's not
real. That's not how the drug is used. That's not really the effects
of this drug.' They were very careful about that," he said. "This
drug is truly unlike anything anybody has ever seen. The chemical
effects on the body, it's hard to over emphasize how destructive it
is on the body, on the mind and on lives. Methamphetamine is five
times more powerful than crack cocaine. It's a very, very destructive
drug."

Ann Davies, director of treatment services at Highland Rivers,
agrees.

"It's a very addictive drug. We're seeing folks who have really lost
everything, their health and their families, and it's very difficult.
It's a very difficult drug for our consumers to stay away from
unless there is involvement from the legal (aspect)," she said.

Langford said Georgia has the third highest rate of teen meth use in
the nation, and he cites a study by Rand which found meth costs
Georgia $1.3 billion each year in health care costs, crime, lost
productivity and other costs. And he says North Georgia has some of
the worst meth problems in the state.

Local experts agree the meth problem is bad here, but some say they
see signs of improvement.

"We're seeing people (meth addicts) but it's been a lot less than a
few years ago when they cracked down on the availability of
pseudoephedrine," said Gary Tester, coordinator of outpatient
services for the Westcott Center at Hamilton Medical Center. "But the
people who manufacture meth have found a new way to make it so we
might see an increase."

Lamar Long, interim director of the Whitfield County Department of
Family and Children Services (DFACS), also said he believes the meth
problem is getting better and officials are seeing fewer referrals
for the drug. He said laws making it harder to buy over-the-counter
drugs with pseudoephedrine have helped, and he adds the Georgia Meth
Project will also help.

But Dr. William Pullen, medical director of the Emergency Department
at Hamilton Medical Center, said the emergency room hasn't seen a
change in the number of meth users admitted.

"It has been pretty consistent over the last several years," he
said.

The Dalton Daily Citizen also ran three other articles on meth today.
One article talks with a meth user while another discusses meth and
its impact in Murray County.

They can be found here:
http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/local/local_story_332233107.html

and here: http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/local/local_story_332232628.html

A third article on how to find help for addicts can be found here:
http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/local/local_story_332232514.html

For more information on the Georgia Meth Project, go to
www.georgiamethproject.org . To see some of the Meth Project ads, go
to www.methproject.org .