ISLAND TEENS INCREASINGLY AWARE OF RISKS OF METHAMPHETAMINE
USE

A majority of Hawaii teenagers and a preponderance of young Hawaii
adults like 19-year-old Camila Harris of Kaneohe see a huge risk in
using methamphetamine even once-a double-digit increase over similar
attitudes reported just last year, according to a survey by the Hawaii
Meth Project to be released today.

"We realize the growing threat," said Harris, a Castle High School
graduate who just finished her freshman year at the University of
Hawaii. "When it comes to meth, it's really scary."

Along with her friends, Harris credits $1 million worth of television,
radio and print ads that began airing last year for helping to shift
island attitudes among young people regarding meth. And that was
welcome feedback for Cindy Adams, executive director of the Hawaii
Meth Project, which will start airing another series of graphic
television commercials and ads beginning today.

The survey to be released today suggests the new media campaign will
continue to make a dent in the attitudes of young people in a remote
island state that nevertheless has one of the nation's worst meth
problems, ranking behind just four other states in 2007.

Meth, especially in its smokable form, is considered highly addictive
after just one use. It is a factor in 75 percent of all drug
enforcement operations-more than all other drugs combined, according
to the Hawaii Meth Project. And 48 percent of all drug-treatment
admissions are meth-related, surpassing alcohol.

Meth abuse costs Hawaii $500 million annually, a price tag that
includes costs for health care, foster care, treatment, incarceration
and lost work time, according to a 2005 Rand Corp. study.

So the estimated $1 million annual cost for the Hawaii Meth Project's
media campaign is a worthwhile investment, Adams said yesterday.

The second Hawaii Meth Use & Attitudes Survey found that 54 percent of
Hawaii teens and 67 percent of young adults see great risk in taking
meth once or twice. That is up 10 percentage points for each group
from one year ago.

Having children talk to their parents about meth use is particularly
important to David Barbour, a Kaneohe father of six girls, and he
credits the graphic ads by the Hawaii Meth Project for changing attitudes.

"I'm hoping and believing that families are getting their acts
together so their children won't grow up with that kind of
environment," Barbour said. "The advertising or the marketing or
whatever they're doing-you see some pictures of what meth will do to
you, and it's obvious that attitudes are changing. They've done a
phenomenal job of educating people."

The four new television commercials that begin airing today can be
found at www.hawaiimethproject.org.

Like their predecessors, the graphic images help sear the negative
impressions of meth use into the minds of young people like Harris,
who called last year's campaign "frightening" and "scary."

The new commercials also feature young people whose lives and
appearances are turned inside out from using methamphetamine.

One of them features a teenage boy who is introduced to meth by a
group of older men, who teach the boy how to smoke "ice" for the first
time.

"He says, 'I'm trying it just this once,'" Adams said, "and the older
men all laugh."

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AT A GLANCE

The second Hawaii Meth Use & Attitudes Survey found
that:

- - 54 percent of Hawaii teens and 67 percent of young adults see great
risk in taking meth once or twice, up 10 points for each group from
one year ago.

- - 87 percent of young adults strongly disapprove of trying meth even
once or twice, up 6 points from last year.

- - 67 percent of teenagers-up 11 points-and 82 percent of young
adults-an increase of 7 points-say their friends would give them a
hard time for using meth.

- - 54 percent of teenagers have discussed meth with their parents in
the past year, an increase of 6 points.