PROGRESS IN FIGHTING METH

A massive anti-drug media campaign has turned many Montana teens away
from methamphetamine.

The latest Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows a remarkable
decline in the number of high school students who say they have used
meth one or more times during their lives. The percentage of Montana
high school students saying they'd used meth had been dropping slowly
since 1999 until the Montana Meth Project started running its edgy
ads in 2005 on TV, radio and billboards and in newspapers. The
percentage of students saying they used meth dropped an amazing 45
percent in the 2007 survey, compared with the 2005 survey. In 2005,
8.3 percent of students said they'd used meth; in 2007, it was 4.6
percent. That steep decline coincided with the Montana Meth Project's
"Not Even Once" campaign. The private, nonprofit organization
obviously is succeeding in effort to discourage teens from trying
meth "even once."

The Montana Meth Project, founded by Thomas Siebel, a businessman who
owns a ranch near Helena, has spent about $15 million in private
funds on its anti-drug campaigns.

4,000 Students Surveyed

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey has been conducted in Montana every
two years since 1991. More than 4,000 students in 47 randomly
selected Montana schools participated in the 2007 survey, according
to the Office of Public Instruction.

This is great news about combatting demand for a toxic, highly
addictive drug. But even as this success is celebrated, Montanans
need to see the larger picture of risky behaviors among our youth.

According to the Montana survey, teens who had used meth were much
more likely than other students to engage in other risky behaviors.
Meth users were nearly twice as likely to have had alcohol in the
past 30 days, three times as likely to have driven while drinking and
three times as likely to have attempted suicide in the past 12 months.

Drugs, Sex and Suicide

But the survey also points out that meth use isn't the only risk
threatening Montana teens. Among students who don't use meth, 43.7
percent had had alcohol within 30 days of the survey, 15.9 percent
had driven while drinking, 29.8 percent had five or more alcoholic
drinks in a row within the past 30 days, 20.4 percent smoked tobacco,
13.3 percent chewed, 15.3 percent used marijuana, 11.5 percent
sniffed glue or other inhalants, 26.6 had sexual intercourse within
the past three months, 26.5 percent had been in at least one fight in
the past year, 10.8 percent had attempted suicide in the past year
and only 55 percent thought of themselves as "about the right weight."

Meth is part of a constellation of addictions and dangerous behaviors
that threaten the lives and health of Montanans. The Montana Meth
Project, which is continuing ad campaigns through next year, has made
a dent in the meth problem by heightening public awareness and
encouraging parents to communicate with their children. Awareness and
communication are key to dealing with all the risk behaviors
surveyed. The Montana Meth Project has shown that dramatic progress
is possible.