Pubdate: Thu, 20 Sep 2007
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2007 The Billings Gazette
Contact:  http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

PROGRESS IN FIGHTING METH

A massive anti-drug media campaign has turned many Montana teens away 
from methamphetamine.

The latest Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows a remarkable 
decline in the number of high school students who say they have used 
meth one or more times during their lives. The percentage of Montana 
high school students saying they'd used meth had been dropping slowly 
since 1999 until the Montana Meth Project started running its edgy 
ads in 2005 on TV, radio and billboards and in newspapers. The 
percentage of students saying they used meth dropped an amazing 45 
percent in the 2007 survey, compared with the 2005 survey. In 2005, 
8.3 percent of students said they'd used meth; in 2007, it was 4.6 
percent. That steep decline coincided with the Montana Meth Project's 
"Not Even Once" campaign. The private, nonprofit organization 
obviously is succeeding in effort to discourage teens from trying 
meth "even once."

The Montana Meth Project, founded by Thomas Siebel, a businessman who 
owns a ranch near Helena, has spent about $15 million in private 
funds on its anti-drug campaigns.

4,000 Students Surveyed

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey has been conducted in Montana every 
two years since 1991. More than 4,000 students in 47 randomly 
selected Montana schools participated in the 2007 survey, according 
to the Office of Public Instruction.

This is great news about combatting demand for a toxic, highly 
addictive drug. But even as this success is celebrated, Montanans 
need to see the larger picture of risky behaviors among our youth.

According to the Montana survey, teens who had used meth were much 
more likely than other students to engage in other risky behaviors. 
Meth users were nearly twice as likely to have had alcohol in the 
past 30 days, three times as likely to have driven while drinking and 
three times as likely to have attempted suicide in the past 12 months.

Drugs, Sex and Suicide

But the survey also points out that meth use isn't the only risk 
threatening Montana teens. Among students who don't use meth, 43.7 
percent had had alcohol within 30 days of the survey, 15.9 percent 
had driven while drinking, 29.8 percent had five or more alcoholic 
drinks in a row within the past 30 days, 20.4 percent smoked tobacco, 
13.3 percent chewed, 15.3 percent used marijuana, 11.5 percent 
sniffed glue or other inhalants, 26.6 had sexual intercourse within 
the past three months, 26.5 percent had been in at least one fight in 
the past year, 10.8 percent had attempted suicide in the past year 
and only 55 percent thought of themselves as "about the right weight."

Meth is part of a constellation of addictions and dangerous behaviors 
that threaten the lives and health of Montanans. The Montana Meth 
Project, which is continuing ad campaigns through next year, has made 
a dent in the meth problem by heightening public awareness and 
encouraging parents to communicate with their children. Awareness and 
communication are key to dealing with all the risk behaviors 
surveyed. The Montana Meth Project has shown that dramatic progress 
is possible. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake