About five years ago now, I read an article in Rolling Stone called "Plague in the Heartland" about crystal meth in the Plains states. It's a plague that has continued to get worse and worse, being chronicled in The Enquirer as a problem in the Cincinnati area.Recently I came upon a terrifying series of advertisements from the Montana Meth Project.
I can honestly say that the full extent of my drug use in my lifetime has been limited to alcohol - and that's been pretty limited - and one second-hand smoke encounter in Vienna where my traveling companions had to point out after the fact that I wasn't exactly acting myself. But good lord, if I were going to try a drug, I certainly wouldn't pick one that makes me look like any of these folks.
I'd be curious to see, however, how much of an effect any of the advertising ("Just Say No", Stand, or the What's Your Anti-Drug) campaigns aimed at stamping out drug use actually have. I'm sure that somewhere along the way some of the grants have had to prove that they're having an effect, but I've never seen that research.
In an entirely unrelated note, guess whose alma matter is the 10th best liberal arts college in the US?
