Thursday, June 19, 2008
825 - NOT EVEN ONCE ... when it comes to Meth
We turned the video camera on the 27-year old Powell mother and asked her to tell us what had happened to her on Meth?
She slowly let out her breath, looked directly into the camera and said:
“I lost my family.
“I lost my kids.
“I lost my job.
“I lost everything. “
A pause.
A sigh and a shudder.
Tears ran down her cheeks as she said, “I tried Meth. That was it.”
Another pause.
“Please, please do not try it. It’s the devil’s drug.”
As I recall, then she stopped talking. The camera kept rolling.
I tried to say, “cut” but my voice was gone and tears were in my eyes. This was real life. It was heart wrenching. And it was right here in Wyoming.
Our PR/ad agency (Wyoming Inc.) had been hired by the state to do the first round of anti-Methamphetamine TV ads, billboards (remember Extreme Meth Makeover?) and several 8-page tabloids called Wyoming Faces Meth, which were distributed statewide.
Ernie Over, George Grossman, Amy Russian and I created those ads in 2003-2004-2005. Then a Colorado ad agency took over the contract. But we will never forget those experiences.
This past week a new campaign was launched in Wyoming called NOT EVEN ONCE, which is an effort that debuted up north called the Montana Meth Project.
It is much better than an earlier national campaign (not by us) called Meth Death. We had lots of young people who laughed at that saying, as they had never heard of anyone dying of Meth.
Not true, of course. Yes, Meth can lead to death but death usually is not sudden and occurs through other events related to Meth use.
NOT EVEN ONCE is also better than a recent controversial series of Wyoming TV ads that showed a young person being tortured. Watching those ads was pure torture.
That young wife in the TV ad mentioned at the beginning of this column said she tried Meth just once and was hooked. She left her media job in Casper, left her family and moved in with the dealer. She was on her way to certain death, she contends, and her sentencing to rehab saved her life.
Our Wyoming Faces Meth campaign had two meanings: first, it was that the people of the state needed to face the reality of Meth addiction in their midst and second, we wanted to put Wyoming faces on the campaign. So we used people from our state who were in treatment.
The ads and the stories were compelling.
Another fellow featured in our ads was from Evanston. His grandfather had been the Speaker of the Wyoming House.
When we interviewed him, he talked about spending one Christmas Eve under a bridge with his sleeping bag and his Meth, rather than traveling 20 miles to where his wife and kids were. This was in Wyoming in 2002.
After treatment, he went back on Meth and went to work in the oil patch. I ran into him in Rock Springs and he had lost 50 pounds. No idea of what has become of him.
Another pretty little gal was pregnant when we filmed her. She was from Cheyenne and said: “I didn’t know pregnant people did Meth. But they do. I am glad to be here for my baby’s sake.”
I ran into her at a convention in Cheyenne and she claimed she was off Meth and doing well. It was easy to be happy for her.
The most messed up person we filmed was a head case from Sheridan who was bouncing off the walls. She was delusional and told these graphic stories involving guns and Meth. Whew, they were incredible. The Southwest Counseling staff in Rock Springs where we filmed assured me her stories were true.
Interestingly, she phoned me a few months ago and was looking for one of her fellow rehab residents who was living in Lander. She was in college and said she is always scared about getting back on Meth but so far, so good.
Then there was Jim from Rawlins. He said the worst day of his life was when they took his newborn baby away because he was arrested for having Meth in his home. Ran into Jim a few years later and he said his life was back on track.
And so it goes.
I wish the best to those who are launching this new campaign called NOT EVEN ONCE.
Meth is scary stuff and although science has not concluded if extreme ads like these work or not, dealing with the problem is worth the effort.
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