COMBATING DRUG USE WITH ADVERTISING

The perpetual fight against the manufacture, possession, and use of
methamphetamine is taking a new turn. Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary
defined it as a pro-active advertising campaign targeted toward teenagers
and tweens between the fifth and ninth grades.

"People in Grayson County know that meth is a serious problem," Gary said.
He then explained that the Sheriff's Office is undertaking the
three-faceted advertising program in an effort to combat by early
intervention-prevention. The Sheriff's Office is using $16,000 of a
$220,000 federal grant, obtained in 2002, to fund the program. Gary said
they will be advertising on television, in newspapers and on billboards.

Grayson County S.O. Lt. Jay Whitney worked with students from S&S High
School in a video to be aired. Gary said they selected that school because
it's the only one in the county over which the Sheriff's Office has direct
jurisdiction, since Sadler has no police force.

The scene is set up in a diner, and two students ask for menus to order up
their lives. The waitress, in the video, asks them if they would like those
lives with or without methamphetamine. The female says with meth, the male
wants his without meth. The waitress hands the female her menu, which gives
her two choices, death or prison, with meth in her life, then hands the
male a limitless supply of choices for his life without meth.

Print ads, including billboards, Gary said, will feature true photographs
taken of people who have used methamphetamine over periods of time, some of
those only a few years. "We believe the sight will make people (of all
ages) stop and think before beginning to use meth," he said. "When anyone
sees the graphics, we hope it makes them think quickly."

The entire ad campaign is modeled after one that the state of Montana has
been running since a benevolent rancher began donating $1.5 million dollars
yearly specifically for an ad campaign with a parallel focus.

That campaign has been running about a year, said Whitney, as he showed
media representatives the Montana ads. Although it is too soon for
statistics on the Montana advertisement campaign to have been compiled,
"All you have to do is look at these ads to know they are effective,"
Whitney said.

"Not using meth the first time is the way to never use it at all," said
Gary. "That's our ultimate goal. The statistics show that once you use it,
you will use it again. Some people chase it to death. The recovery rate is
estimated at about 5 percent. This is the most insidious drug out there today."

Whitney said that Grayson County S.O. is the only Texas law enforcement
agency to have received that particular federal grant. The other money has
been used to purchase special equipment used in law enforcement, including
a van with what Gary called, "state of the art equipment" used in
developing solid drug cases.

"We've noticed a big drop in the number of meth labs during the past year,"
Gary said, remarking that they attribute that drop to the new laws in both
Oklahoma and Texas that make it harder to get enough pseudoephedrine needed
in the manufacture of meth. "Now, we suspect it's (more often) being made
in Mexico and brought into the county."

Gary said that methamphetamine has no boundaries of age. "It's a problem
for all ages. We are after the young people, hoping to prevent them from
even starting to use the drug. If somebody brings some to school, we hope
they'll stop and think before using it."