SURVEY SUGGESTS METH ADS EFFECTIVE

The stories are real. The experiences are harrowing. And the messages
appear to be effective.

A year after its $4 million advertising campaign rolled out, The
Georgia Meth Project will release this week a survey that found 52
percent of teenagers believe there is "great risk" in taking
methamphetamine just once or twice. That's an 11 point gain over the
benchmark survey conducted last year, before the messaging campaign
hit the airwaves.

More young people also believe that using meth will negatively
influence a younger sibling and increase the risks of losing control,
suffering brain damage and stealing, the survey said.

The campaign slogan, "Not Even Once, " encourages teens not to
experiment with meth. One of the print ads shows a jail cell and
says, "Nobody thinks they'll spend a romantic evening here. Meth will
change that."

Another television ad shows a girl in a bathrobe talking to a friend
on the phone. "Yeah," she says, "my parents think I'm sleeping at
your house." Moments later, the girl is showering when she turns and
screams upon seeing a scarred, bleeding version of herself huddled in
the bathtub, shaking her head and warning "don't do it."

Some local teens indicated the ads struck a chord.

Erica Beckelhymer, a 15-year-old student at Lassiter High School in
Marietta, said the TV commercials are pretty realistic.

"They are kind of weird, but I definitely remember them," Beckelhymer
said. "I feel like it's more relatable to me, not that I do meth or
anything like that. I would never do drugs, but it's more relatable
because it's got teenagers in it."

Anna Dowling, a 16-year-old student at Druid Hills High School in
Atlanta, recalled a radio ad where a teenage girl talked about her
teeth falling out.

The ads made her more aware of "just how dangerous it is, and the
effect it has on people," said Dowling, who said neither she nor her
close friends had used meth. She now perceives meth as being more
dangerous than other highly addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin.

Dowling's father, Michael, said the ads are more effective than
anti-drug commercials he remembers seeing growing up, like one from
Partnership for a Drug-Free America where a man cracked an egg over a
skillet and said, "This is your brain on drugs... Any questions?"

"It became almost a cliche as soon as it came out," Michael Dowling
said. "I thought this approach was better."

It's unclear if the ads are having an impact on crime or the drug's
availability.

About a fifth of the teens surveyed said meth was easy to get,
roughly the same results as last year.

The number of methamphetamine labs in Georgia has been steadily
rising, from 167 to 257 between 2007 and 2010, according to the GBI.
Between 2008 and 2010, the amount of the drug seized by law
enforcement also soared from 51 kilograms to 279 kilograms, according
to the latest Drug Enforcement Administration.

In February, three young children died in a fire at a house near
Lilburn in unincorporated Gwinnett County that was caused by toxic
chemicals used to manufacture meth. In the same county in November,
police made one of the largest meth busts in history, seizing 933
pounds of the drug, worth an estimated $44 million, after raiding a
"super lab." Cpl. Jake Smith, a spokesman for the Gwinnett County
Police Department, said investigators there are still dealing with
meth cases on a regular basis.

In Rockdale County, where a suspected rolling meth lab forced police
to shut down part of downtown Conyers in October, police say they
have seen no change in meth-related arrests in recent months. If
anything there have been more, said Melissa, an undercover
investigator with the Rockdale-Conyers Narcotics/Vice Unit who asked
that her last name be withheld for safety reasons.

The detective said, even if the campaign resonated with only a few
kids, it would be worthwhile because meth is such a devastating drug.
Still, young teens who say no to meth now because of the graphic ads
are still in danger because they might change their minds later, in
college, when they are prone to experiment, the detective said.

"It's a great bandwagon to jump on, and a great platform for schools
to get behind, but it's not unlike contraception or DUI pledges or
promise rings," Melissa said.

The campaign targets teenagers between 12 and 17 because statistics
show that is the age range when most people try meth for the first
time. To that end, the shifting attitude among teenagers measured in
the survey has exceeded expectations, said Jim Langford, the
executive director of Georgia Meth Project.

The project is privately-funded, but it partners with state agencies
to promote its message. There are similar efforts underway in seven
other states: Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Montana and Wyoming.

There will be a total of four phases of advertisements. The second
year-long phase starts on Tuesday.

"Hopefully, in a three or four-year period, we would see changes so
significant that you begin to truly stigmatize meth use," Langford
said. "So you get a higher and higher percentage of kids who say
'that's not something I want.'"

More Georgia Meth Project survey results:

87 percent of teens say the ads helped them understand meth is
dangerous to try just once.

90 percent of teens say that, if their brother, sister, or a friend
were thinking about trying meth, they would want them to see or hear
one of the ads.

85 percent of teens strongly disapprove of using meth once or twice
(up 5 points from last year).

53 percent say they have told their friends not to use meth (up 7
points from last year).

42 percent say they have discussed the subject of meth with their
parents in the past year (up 7 points from last year).

*Survey information provided by the Georgia Meth Project