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April 18, 2007 - 6:18AM
Anti-meth drive previews at Cocopah
Amanda Keim, Tribune
The girl was going to try meth — just once. Then steal — just once. Then sleep with someone for the drug — just once.
But it was the last scene of the advertisement, one of four television ads that will air across the state starting today, that really caught 14-year-old Kayla Newnam’s attention. The girl’s younger sister decided to try the drug, too.
“I’d never want my brother to end up like that. That would be horrible. And I’d never want to end up like that,” Kayla said. “The scare tactic is working.”
Kayla was one of 30 eighthgraders at Scottsdale’s Cocopah Middle School who previewed the Arizona Meth Project campaign Tuesday.
Based on the Montana Meth Project, the campaign features television and print ads with gritty images of teens picking at their scabbed skin, stealing to support their habit and being hospitalized.
Radio, TV and print ads feature the real stories of Arizona teens who tried the drug.
According to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission’s 2006 Arizona Youth Survey, 4.3 percent of teens across the state have tried meth at least once — twice the national average, said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.
That’s one reason there was a conscious effort to place advertisements on stations young people watch, including MTV and Comedy Central, Goddard said.
“(Meth is) the most serious threat to your safety,” he said. “We’re trying to provide you with accurate, graphic content about a serious problem.”
This project also includes a baseline survey of 1,200 Arizonans, which will measure the ads’ effectiveness over time.
That survey was being finished on Tuesday, said Geoff Feinburg, conducting it through the GFK Roper polling agency.
Aaron Frishman, 14, said his family usually watches TV during dinner. These ads would probably spark a conversation about drugs, he said.
“I think it’s going to scare kids. No one’s going to want to do it,” Aaron said.
Aaron said he doesn’t know anyone who has used meth. But after seeing the commercials, he said, “If I do, I probably won’t talk to them ever again.”
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