MAKING THE DANGERS OF METH VIVID TO KIDS

Not even once - that's the goal of the Hawaii Meth Project, a
nonprofit organization committed to preventing first-time meth use
through community out-reach and education.

The organization launched last June with the help of a single private
donor and is continuing to operate through fundraisers and donations.
It's headed by Cindy Adams, who has a staff of one program manager
and relies on hundreds of volunteers throughout the state.

It's also the organization responsible for bringing to Hawaii those
dramatic national TV commercials depicting the life of meth users,
such as the young man who watches himself run into a laundromat and
rob the folks there of money, a girl who lies to her parents about
sleeping over at a friend's house and then sees herself in the
bathtub all beat up, and then there's the girl who follows in her
older sister's footsteps of trying meth "just once."

"I've had parents with little kids tell me that these ads are way too
scary, and I say it's really hard to reach out to our intended
audience solely (which is teenagers age 12 to 17 and secondarily
young adults age 18 to 24)," says Adams, a 1975 graduate of Kohala
High School. "We know that their prime viewing time is 7 p.m. to
midnight, so that's where we buy our time to show these ads. It's a
phenomenal opportunity for parents to sit down with their kids at any
age and start having the conversation with them about not using drugs.

"It's a different conversation for a 5-year-old than it is for
someone who is 12. It's very black and white, yes or no, good or bad,
and all they have to say is that 'what this means is doing drugs is
bad, so mom does-n't want you to do drugs.' And as they get older,
you have a more refined and complex conversation with them."

The Hawaii Meth Project also produces 60-second radio ads featuring
real stories from local teenagers and young adults who are either
incarcerated or in rehabilitation for meth addiction.

According to the 2009 HIDTA Drug Market Analysis published by the
U.S. Department of Justice, Hawaii has one of the largest ice
methampheta-mine user populations per capita in the nation.
Additionally, a 2007 national survey on drug use and health reveals
that Hawaii ranks No. 5 in the nation for meth use by people age 12 and older.

As part of its outreach, Adams visits schools, public and private,
every week to give presentations about meth use. She recently spoke
to students of Castle Performing Arts Center's Castle DanceForce, who
are incorporating teen meth or "ice" use in one of their spring dance
concert scenes.

The concert, titled Dear Diary, is dedicated to raising awareness of
teenage depression, including causes of and ways to prevent depression.

The scene will feature the Hawaii Meth Project's campaign slogan "Not
Even Once" and demonstrate the dangers of crystal methamphetamine and
the devastating effects of this drug, especially on teens.

Performance dates are April 30 and May 1 at 7:30 p.m. and May 2 at 3
p.m. at Castle High School. For more information, go to
www.showtix4u.com or call 233-5626.

"One of the things we know that is very effective is peer outreach,"
says Adams. "Kids are more interested in hearing something from a kid
than they are from an adult, and this partnership with CPAC is an
opportunity to work with a group that does theater, which is one way
to communicate with their peers."

To help the students really understand the negative impact of meth
addiction, they also got the opportunity to meet with Joe Lewis, a
recovered meth addict who volunteers with Hawaii Meth Project.

Lewis, whose parents were meth users, started using meth when he was
14. By age 17 he was in jail with 17 felonies on his record and a
15-year-old girlfriend who just gave birth to his son.

"I was raised by my grandparents and I knew that drugs would lead you
down the wrong path," says Lewis. "So for the longest time I didn't
do it, but what happened was when I was 14 I wanted a relationship
with my parents and I started to go around them more. My dad started
to get caught up with my friends, selling them drugs and hanging out with them.

"After school, I would see my dad's truck in front of the school and
my friends would jump in the bed of his truck and they would drive
off without me because I wasn't involved with doing the drug at the
time, so I felt like I needed to do it to fit in."

Eventually that first hit led to a $400 to $500 a day addiction.
Lewis admits to robbing people to support his habit and says the drug
caused his weight to plummet from 180 pounds to 110 pounds and his
personal hygiene deteriorated.

"The ads you see are accurate," he says. "My son was born when his
mom and I were actively using it. He has ADHD, which is common with
drug babies, so he is ultimately living with some of the consequences
from the poor decisions I've made. We also have a daughter who was
born when we were both clean and you can see a clear difference
between the two.

"He's an innocent child and I know this is happening every day to
innocent children, and that's why I felt I needed to help Cindy and
the Hawaii Meth Project."

For Lewis, it was the realization that he had nothing going for him
except jail time and the thought of not being there for his son that
made him want to get clean. Fortunately, he was given the opportunity
to enter the Hawaii Drug Court Program, which he credits for helping
him in turning his life around.

Now, 26, he has been clean and sober ever since. He also works,
attends the University of Hawaii-West Oahu where he's studying public
administration and is raising two children as a single father.

"I honestly believe the Hawaii Meth Project is perhaps the best type
of deterrent that there is available to high school students who are
every day falling victim to ice," says Lewis.

At her school presentations, Adams discusses the meth problem in
Hawaii, what the drug does to the body, what it does to the brain,
how toxic the process is to create it, what the drug looks like, the
radio and TV ads and how difficult it is to get off this drug. She
says the reason it's so addictive is because of the dopamine that the
drug releases.

"It's incomparable to other drugs like heroine or cocaine," she says.
"There are a number of things you can do that release dopamine.
Eating, hanging out with your friends and having a good time with
your family release dopamine, and it's the actual processing of the
dopamine that causes this happy feeling.

"And the example I give kids is, if I were to withhold food from you
and you got really hungry and then I gave you food and water, your
brain would release about 200 units of dopamine. If I gave you
cocaine, your brain would release 300 to 350 units of dopamine. If
someone was to give you crystal meth, your brain would release 1,000
to 1,200 units of dopamine, so it is significantly higher.

"So, when people say they've never felt anything like how ice makes
them feel, what they're talking about is this tremendous release of
dopamine that makes them feel like Superman - a tremendous amount of
strength, energy and a feeling of euphoria."

Meth use also can lead to hypertension, high blood pressure, heart
disease, lung disease, meth mouth (rotten teeth and gum disease),
paranoia, anxiety, depression, volatile behavior and hallucinations.

"We have high expectations for the success of the program because of
what we've seen in Montana (the first state to launch the Meth
Project)," says Adams. "In Montana, we've seen, since 2005, a 63
percent reduction in teen meth use, a 72 percent reduction in
workforce meth use and a 62 percent reduction in meth-related crimes."

Hawaii Meth Project is always looking for more volunteers and donations.

For more information, visit www.hawaiimethproject.org .