METH CAMPAIGN IN MONTANA COULD HELP ARIZONA'S FIGHT

PHOENIX - Arizona officials are close to importing the Montana Meth
Project's gritty, in-your-face ad campaign against methamphetamine addiction.

The Montana Meth Project has become a national success story with the
often-shocking content in its ads. One billboard shows a grungy,
dirty toilet with the words, "No one thinks they'll lose their
virginity here. Meth will change that."

A TV spot shows a young man covered with scabs harassing people in a
coin laundry and beating them up for loose change. At the end of the
ad, the teen runs up to his pre-meth self and screams, "This wasn't
supposed to be your life!"

On Tuesday, Arizona officials, including staff members from the
governor's office and the attorney general's office, will fly to
Helena, Mont., to watch the latest round of TV spots and meet with
software billionaire Thomas Siebel, whose deep pockets have fueled
the Montana project.

"I just don't think we have time to waste," said Arizona Attorney
General Terry Goddard. "I don't think there is hardly a family in
Arizona that doesn't have some tragedy associated with meth."

Goddard said the goal is to have an Arizona Meth Project up and
running by August.

And it couldn't come too soon.

Last year in Arizona, 52,000 people used meth.

Nearly one in five children ages 12 to 17 have been offered meth, and
surveys show that 65 percent of child-abuse and neglect cases in the
state involve the drug.

In 2003, 42 percent of females booked into Maricopa County jail
tested positive for the drug, and meth hospital admissions surged 229
percent during 2000 to 2004, according to a study by the University of Arizona.

"It's absolutely brutal," said Dr. Marc Matthews, director of the
trauma unit at Maricopa Medical Center. "The drug is almost maniacal.
Once it gets hold of you, that's it."

In Montana, the multimillion-dollar ad campaign, known as "Not Even
Once," has saturated the airwaves, helping to reduce meth use among
teens by as much as 30 percent.

Siebel donated more than $6 million to launch the program in August.
He has not taken government money and does not want any politicians'
names or faces on the ads.

To stretch the campaign, the project received a dollar-for-dollar
match from television and radio station advertising. Arizona leaders
want to have the same deal with local media outlets.

It will take about $5.7 million to cover about 70 percent of the
Arizona market for one year, Goddard estimated. Siebel would let
Arizona use the ads from his Montana campaign, but he does not want
the content changed or tweaked in any way.

Goddard told Siebel in a letter that it would be helpful to have some
ads tailored to Arizona's Indian tribes and Spanish-language radio.