This is very disturbing. I watched one episode of Oprah about the dangers of Meth. It's really surprising how this drug can make someone's personality turn 360 degrees.

"15 bucks for sex isn't normal"
so how much is?

strangely worded, i think

The first image is interesting--I wonder if the fact that he's have sex with her from behind (and so it's possibly anal sex) is supposed to be part of the awfulness of it.

it's weird that some of these images -- the jail cell one and the one about how doing meth won't make it easier for you to hook up, for example -- are easily believable and similar to many other ads, whereas other ads -- like the one about making his girlfriend sell her body or having sex for $15 -- might happen in the meth community, but they take a huge stretch of imagination to assume that that's what will happen to you if you do meth.

I really doubt the ad company did any research on the effects of meth before designing this campaign. It looks as if they got the contract by making the most horrific ads possible.

The top one reminds me of Cindy Sherman

i think that it would be interesting to compare images and campaigns targeting meth addiction with crack addiction. first, I would guess that these drugs are racialized. second, they probably differ in there urban vs. rural orientation.

was there ever an anti-crack drug campaign? seems like there must have been seeing as there was a "drug war" and all.

The only thing I've never seen or heard about "meth" is a rational discussion. Facts are usually lacking, such as the nature of its toxicology. That is, it's not very toxic at all, in fact caffeine is harder on our bodies and has more side effects than methamphetamines.

But once that is said, the shocked gasps and shouting denials begin and the rest of the facts can't be heard, which are important. Such as:

1) Pharmaceutical-grade meth, made in clean labs with pharmaceutical-grade reagents is less toxic and has fewer side effects than caffeine. It is sometimes issued to Air Force pilots for long missions (the "Go pill").

2) Street meth is made with non-pharmaceutical grade reagents and solvents (usually by non-chemists), and the well-over 100 recipes in use differ regionally, as do symptoms of street meth abuse (i.e. more paranoid psychosis in the midwest where it's often made with anhydrous ammonia, which is a fertilizer ingredient stolen from rail cars).

3) Users also almost always induce de facto overdoses. A euphoric rush or maintaining intense focus for days on end are initial symptoms of overdosing, similar to the spectrum of buzzed to jittery to full-blown psychosis also seen with increasing doses of caffeine. Appetite is also greatly suppressed by high doses.

When combined, these factors account for all the "faces of meth" reality behind the propaganda.

We end up with a situation where people are consuming an impure product contaminated with heavy metals and unreacted toxic reagents due to unskilled and inaccurate synthesis, they are chronically overdosing on this contaminated substance, and they are not getting adequate nutrition or sleep on top of everything else.

Oh, and it's been circulating in the US since the early 1950's, was first used by the German Army in WWII as a food substitute on the front lines (easily transported, non-perishable, keeps the troops awake for days on end- making them paranoid and aggressive to boot- it's perfect!), and since amphetamines in general are still increasing in popularity they (and meth) are here to stay, though most prefer their amphetamines in mixed-salt, low dose pharmaceutical form, such as Adderall.

"Meth" is just one kind of amphetamine, currently prescribed under the brand-name Desoxyn. It's prescribed when other amphetamines cause too many side effects, which is interesting, though it induces more euphoria than other amphetamine salts and so has a higher abuse potential.

This all points to the possibility that the prohibition of methamphetamine causes more side effects than the molecule itself, since if available in pure form over-the-counter at least there would not be heavy metal and toxic solvent poisonings along with the likely-inevitable overdoses. Then again, overdoses would also probably decrease as knowledge and accurate information became available instead of fear-mongering propaganda.

I don't anticipate significant changes to this problem in the foreseeable future; there are too many vested interests profiting greatly from the status-quo. It's too bad, a lot of people are suffering needlessly.

hi.........the saying that writen on the pictures are full of truth..................

"dont use drugs in a wrong way.because the effect of drugs can harm you even in death.............."

there are live-action ads on the website:

http://montanameth.org

so many interesting things here, the biggest of which for me is the fact that most of the actors hired are white as white can be, and that probably has something to do with the montana-based demographic that the campaign is trying to reach (right?)
i have really mixed feelings about drug prevention programs, but what i know for sure is that having been through the DARE program in the late 90s, it made us all pretty curious, and we all ended up smoking weed (and beyond) within two to five years.
aghh!!

you know what people, we can go on and on trying to find ways to slam or devalue the ads. The truth is drugs (meth and others) is killing the people we love. it is creating chaos in our homes, schools, religious organisations and every, every, sphere of our lives.

Why cant we stand as a united front? no, we have to find faults. use a white person and its an issue, use a black person and you being racist. does it then become a racial issue or a global health issue?

there is no safe way to use a drug, it is not controllable. When we try to justify it by saying that the milary used it, does it help with our current issue?

here in Cape Town, South Africa it is the number one drug of choice.

until you lose someone you love to Meth you wont know the true impact of the drug. But then, do you ever want to reach that point??

Thank you, Anonymous, for your informative, non-hysterical approach. I think the current fear-based approach to most drugs (especially meth) has become an intrinsic feature of our society. In the '70's, when I was a full-time University student as well as a full-time cook, I used amphetamines (white crosses, we called them) which could be fairly easily purchased for about 25 cents apiece. It was not a big deal. Truck drivers and students were generally acknowledged to be occasional users. They were pharmaceutical grade, and I definitely noticed they were more effective and less "toxic" to my body than coffee was. When I was no longer a student, I became an ex-user. No problem. I have since used methamphetamine, and enjoyed its effect, to some extent--longer acting, more euphoric than amphetamines. However, I never had very much difficulty in quitting. I have been mystified by the current "information" regarding meth and amphetamines, and "Anonymous" has done much to dispel some of my mystification regarding this subject. To Bronwyn, I would like to point out that to people who have "lost" a family member to alcohol abuse, there is much the same psychological aversion to alcohol as she alludes to with meth. I have known many "uppers" users, but have never known anyone to reach the state of addiction and organic deterioration that I have seen in anti-meth ad campaigns. In the way that the media sensationalizes various subjects, I feel that they are the most effective, ubiquitous and pervasive "terrorist" element in our society. Nothing convinces like abject fear.

I know this is a very old post, and not many people are likely to read this, but having lived with meth addicts, I feel I need to put my two cents in. I have seen people waste away (go from slightly chubby to a pro Ana thinspiration poster in a few months) when they start using, I have known people who have traded sexual favors for this drug, some of whom were under age at the time, with men more than twice their age. I've known people who have tried to quit over and over, without success. I've heard the high described as nearly orgasmic, that some men ejaculate when they shoot up. I've heard stories of people not sleeping or eating for days on end, of people picking at their faces until they bleed, of hallucinations, and paranoia. I've seen people with sores on their faces just like the boy in the fifth image. I've never heard of meth users beating people for money or because they got in the way. Most tweakers I've known were far more interested in having sex with each other than anything else, and are more likely to steal on the sly than to be so confrontational. The meth addicts I've known are more scavengers than predators, more likely to go through a friend's wallet when they're not looking, or break into an empty house.All in all, I'd have to say that except for the violent crime posters, these are a fairly accurate depiction of the consequences of street meth use.

Most of my information is, I admit, anecdotal, so take it with as many grains of salt as you care to.

Edit: The meth use I'm referring to is rural, home-cooked, intravenous use. It's made with, among other things, batteries, cold medicine, and household cleaners. It's being used by impoverished, often uneducated people. They often start using (shooting up) as young as thirteen or fourteen. This town was a logging town, but most of the trees are all gone and now it's just a tourist lay over, a stop off on the way to things that are actually worth seeing. Oh, and by the way, this is the Western part of Clallam county, WA, including, among others, the town of Forks. The people here are not beautiful and mysterious, they are poor and desperate, using anything within their means to escape the reality of their situation. I don't know many people who grew up in this area who haven't tried meth, let along sold or cooked it.

Noelley B I agree with you completely. My brother threatened to kill me because I wouldn't give him my car keys for him to meet his dealer. When I lived with my parents - before the extent of my bro's drug use was known - he tried to steal anything that wasn't nailed down. He got away with stealing a lot. Checks, electronics, cash, antiques, musical instruments, DVDs. He's been in and out of state prison several times in five years and every time he gets out he's clean and determined to stay that way, but two weeks in our hometown word gets around that he's out of prison and his former connections find him and he's sucked in again. Everyone he used with was like this. It's horrifying and very, very real. These ads are about as accurate as it gets.

Let me clarify that I am a critical sociologist. However, I don't think these ads are comparable to reefer madness. That movie was clearly dishonest and based on lies. I'm sure we all know very productive, well-balanced people who smoke marijuana. On the other hand, (illicit) meth can cause these behaviors. I have a sister who is addicted to meth, and has been for several years. She has exchanged sex for drugs. She has been raped while too high. She has stolen from people. She spent over a year in prison on forgery charges to support her habit. And she was just recently diagnosed with hepatitis. She'll go to rehab and seem to be better, and then she gets back into it again. The family has now come to accept that she will die young because of her meth addiction. Whether these scare tactics will work to help prevent drug use is still questionable. Although I am skeptical, I can see how it might also be different with this ad campaign. Where as past scare tactics were largely based on falsehoods that people could see right through, people who know meth abusers can see that these things do happen.

extremely old article but in case someone ends up reading this: i recently moved from rural Oregon to New York City. back home these ads would be fairly effective - one thing that's kept a lot of kids off meth is the stigmatization of methheads (not saying that's entirely a good thing). but here in NYC, meth is drug used almost exclusively by gay men in clubs. makes you wonder how much of the trouble with meth is due to the actual drug and how much is due to other circumstances...

this is quite didsterbing muahahahahahahaahhaha thats why i do chocolate +.+

dardy...

I was on meth for about a year and a half. Its been in my family and my ex boyfriends family since we were children. I know first hand that these posters are true. The delusions, parnoia, hallucinations. Its sad because people think your just using to get "high" when actually doing the meth isn't getting you high anymore, you start having to use just to get through the day. The thing I hate most about meth is while your on it you can't see how everything around is falling in on you. Its like your trapped. I saw my ex boyfriend last night, after going to rehab i've been clean for 50 days today. And he is doing worse than ever, it broke me into a million pieces seeing him that way. Telling me he is doing better cause he isnt dong a gram a day anymore, instead he's shooting up a tength of a point every morning. He is completley someone else and not the person I fell in love with. I hate the moster he's become but its hard because that was me before I left. And then I just leave him in this hell we created together. And now I don't think I can help...the monster is swallowing him whole, and for a few seconds I can see him in his eyes but then it fades away just as quickly and the monsters back. But hes still in there, locked inside himself and he doesnt know how to get out.