I understood these ads have been VERY successful in Montana.
and btw–I believe the program is privately funded and not Da Man.
I recall when the ads first came out reading an article in which they described how the concept was developed, and the main thrust was that they talked to high school kids and were told to not sugar coat it and to be brutal and in your face, and that is why the ads were developed in this way. I will see if I can find a cite for that.
Kalhoun: I posted that because a lot of people (you included, apparently) get fooled by the name and think ‘Narconon’ is a shorter form of ‘Narcotics Anonymous’. When putting cites on a message board it is embarrassing, but when trying to get treated it can be disastrous.
Dang, I was gonna mention that one!
Well, I remember another one that I thought was pretty good, especially for the short-term thinkers. It showed a bunch of what looked like middle-school-aged kids at a party — the pizza and soda kind of party, apparently — and a cute girl notices a cute boy across the room. He notices her, too, and starts to make his way across the room to go talk to her. The camera switches back and forth between the two of them, and you can tell by their faces that they’re both very eager to meet. The boy finally manages to work his way through the crowd and gets within a few feet of the girl … just in time to see her light up a joint. Their eyes meet, and the boy’s facial expression changes from “eager” to “disappointment”, and he turns and walks away. The girl is left with an “I just fucked up” look on her face.
Do they have an ad where the guy making meth in his bathroom fucks up and it explodes, killing him and lighting his neighborhood on fire? If they don’t that should be their next one. Showing that it can indeed kill you very quickly (but by fire and explosion as well as OD) would be a different way to make the same point.
Thanks for clearing it up a little more. Basically, when it started, I thought the parents were fighting (as in beating each other or something) and then I saw the boy and thought he was going home and didn’t even think he’d be on meth until the second view, but I admit once it made sense to me, it was pretty effective and I’m glad.
Thanks for your response…
Brendon Small
I have to admit, these are pretty good. And by good I mean bad…as in effective. I have no desire to ever do meth. Not that I did beforehand. The one where the girls’ friends drop her off outside the hospital was another fairly good one.
Aw, you guys are pussies. Meth rocks!
(Kidding.) I suppose I’m fortunate in that I tried meth (or crank, as everyone I knew called it at the time) a few times but never really enjoyed it that much, so it never “caught on.” The first hour or two were great, with the crazy level of energy and feeling like I could accomplish any task, menial or complex, without a moment’s boredom or self-doubt.
Unfortunately that’s as good as it gets, and you quickly drop off the edge from Funtown into Crazyland. The one time I did meth two days consecutively I began feeling seriously psychotic, possibly just from the lack of sleep alone— so I have no problem believing the stories of bizarre behavior by people who stay awake on extended binges.
A crap drug, and definitely not the one for me. Thankfully my body and brain realized as much.
It would be the same only in the most general “meth = bad” sense. But this project has a pretty specific mission – keeping good, innocent kids from taking that first, seemingly harmless step toward a nightmare of addiction. An ad trying to persuade people to not manufacture drugs is a pretty different mission.
Though I can think of a good theme for your ad: “You HATE the science fair. So why would you want to do a science fair project that could blow you up?”
I’m not embarassed in the slightest. Narcotics Anonymous isn’t the end-all authority on the subject or addiction treatment anyway, so it’s neither here nor there to me. I am simply highlighting the obvious fact that meth can be highly addictive and can ravage a life more quickly than most other abused substances. I’ve done it a couple times, decades ago when I was a dumb kid, and it didn’t hold me in its clutches. But I freely admit I got lucky.
It’s not that Narcotics Anonymous is the Ultimate Authority – it’s that the Scientology-affiliated Narconon has been credibly accused of shunting the distraiught into Scientology and of pushing Hubbard’s highly dubious “cures” for addiction (and his equally wacky theories about drug addiction.)
Look…my cite wasn’t touting or dissing any treatment program. all I did was use it as a cite that shows how it’s not an inner-city drug, but one that reaches every level of society, including squeaky-clean suburban housewives. CONTEXT, PEOPLE!
Here are three sites that detail the level of problem Meth is for rural areas. Kansas Methamphetamine Prevention, Meth Watch, The Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
I would hope the campaign is aimed at the snot-nosed little shits, too.
Yeah, meth is a huge problem in rural areas. There’s lots of space to set up labs, and plenty of access to anhydrous ammonia, one of the principal ingredients. Anhydrous ammonia is commonly stored on farms as a fertilizer, and is frequently stolen by meth cooks and users.
That is astoundingly good.
I freely admit I avoid areas of the city (Baltimore) where there is known drug trade, and I don’t associate with people who use drugs (I’m aware that I can’t possibly know all the details of my friends’ lives, but I’m pretty sure none of them are meth-heads). I simply have no context to understand this, so I’m glad this thread is here.
They’re accurate alright.
The one where the blonde girl walks up to the guys smoking meth and wants to try it, so they show her her meth teeth, meth boyfriend, meth baby, etc. is a little too close to the Reefer Madness as far as “one hit = lost forever” goes, and I wouldn’t expect that ad to be very effective, but the others are accurate. The one where the kids drop the girl off at the hospital? That’s nearly any drug (save pot, of course…); hell, even alcohol can be like that since the little buggers are all afraid of “getting into trouble” for drinking underage.
The boyfriend one? That’s a scary ad. The two best print ones I’ve seen are the print of “My mom knows I’d never hurt her. Then she got in the way” and “No one thinks they’ll lose their virginity here. Meth will change that” of the absolutely foul bathroom (prison bathroom possibly?).
But they’re accurate.
Two of the TV spots pinpoint that: the one where the girl wishes she had flipped her car and become paralyzed, and the one where the guy wishes he had been mugged and beaten by a gang. Because if those things had happened, neither of them would have gone to the party where they took their first hit.
Now, I understand what they’re saying – being paralyzed, or beaten half or entirely to death, would still be better than being a meth head. But what I really hear is, “I wish the decision had been made for me.” Like, what? They got to the party and someone put a gun to their head to make them take that first hit?
But perhaps it has a different effect on a teenager. I’ve turned down cocaine and cocaine variations more than once; I just said, “No, thanks,” and that was the end of it. However, I was over 18 at the time. It may be different for a teenager. Or it may not, but my understanding of meth, cocaine, et al, is that above all, they are expensive. Not just in dollars and cents, but difficulty of manufacturing/purchasing, the desperation for the next hit, and the much greater legal risks than weed or alcohol. Would anyone really force meth, or any other hardcore drug, on someone who was ambivalent, when they could keep it all for themselves?
Point being, it’s still up to the individual to say NO. Or to wish they’d said no. What good is wishing fate had intervened, when your judgment might have been equally poor on another occasion?
In my experience, people who deal speed to teenagers are slightly older, very charismatic men. Ours were mostly foreign tortured artist types who fill the emptiness in their souls by creating dependent women. They find younger girls who never got much attention- loners and other people who just don’t quite fit in to the mold. Usually pretty innocent. They invite them to parties. They start having sex. It’s all very fun and kind of glamorous in an underground kind of way. Suddenly they’ve gone from being a wierdo to a hip, sexually attractive, mysterious person with a secret life. Their old friends fall away (or go along with them into the world of speed). Their life is full of new, interesting drama.
Pretty soon, the girls are addicted. Often, not a lot of money changes hands. Mostly it’s sex, favors, driving people around, that sort of thing. And of course, constant companionship. Someone else to share in your downfall. A girl who will do anything for you, as long as the speed keeps flowing. I don’t even think a lot of the girls think of it as “Oh, I’m exchanging sex for money.” It’s all just part of the lifestyle. They know the guys are skeezy and probably using them, but they think it’s love in that tortured complicated way. The emotions are blurred and intense. To them it’s a great romance in a magical world, not a drug addiction.
And of course, when the girls get used up and strung out, the guys find some new ones. The girls either figure it out and clean up, or end up true junkies.
One thing that is particularly insidious about speed is that it can be addicting on the first try. Just once can ruin things. It’s not something you can safely play with at parties. One of my good friends once came up to me and said “I did speed last night. I’m worried- it’s not like I’m addicted, but I know I’m gonna do it again and can’t stop myself”. Sure enough, she did, and spent her late teens in the hell of drug addiction. Maybe doesn’t happen that way with everyone, but it happens often enough.
I see. Thank you.
Kalhoun: I guess now you see why you should not cite Narconon. 