The Montana Meth Project

As a big fan of the fan­tas­tic TV show Break­ing Bad I’m aware of the seri­ous dam­age a drug like Crys­tal­meth can cause. Sadly, the num­ber of drug addicts is high and the drug users start their careers in an age they should actu­ally care more about their home­work than doing drugs.

For this rea­son, some guys founded the Mon­tana Meth Project, to show the poten­tial young “cus­tomers” what this hor­ri­ble drug is really about:

Our goal is to arm the youth of Mon­tana with the facts about Meth so that they can make a bet­ter informed deci­sion when pre­sented with the oppor­tu­nity to give Meth a try.

The whole thing is actu­ally the first cam­paign against any form of drugs, which — in my eyes — really works. I’m deeply impressed by the offen­sive images used in the ads:

The research-based mes­sag­ing campaign—which graph­i­cally por­trays the rav­ages of Meth use through tele­vi­sion, radio, bill­boards, and Inter­net ads—has gained nation­wide atten­tion for its uncom­pro­mis­ing approach and demon­strated impact. The campaign’s core mes­sage, “Not Even Once®,” speaks directly to the highly addic­tive nature of Meth.

Here are some examples:

• Tele­vi­sion

• Print

• Radio
• Inter­net
• Doc­u­men­taries

The results of the large-scale nation­wide cam­paign are dis­puted, but apper­ently effective:

• Mon­tana ranks #39 in the nation for Meth abuse
• Teen Meth use has declined by 63%
• Adult Meth use has declined by 72%
• 62% decrease in Meth-related crime

By now sev­eral other states joined the project and formed the Meth Project, based on the pre­vi­ous ideas.