Pubdate: Wed, 31 Jan 2007
Source: Idaho Press-Tribune (ID)
Copyright: 2007 The Idaho Press-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.idahopress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/203
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

IDAHO MAY USE GRAPHIC CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT METH

Public Safety: Well-Known Montana-Based Program Features Hard-Hitting 
Spots In Television And Print

IDAHO FALLS -- Gov. Butch Otter plans to meet with the billionaire 
founder of the Montana Meth Project about launching an in-your-face 
advertising campaign depicting the perils of methamphetamine in 
Idaho. Tom Siebel, a part-time Montana resident who founded a 
software company he later sold to Oracle Corp. for $5.8 billion, 
created the Montana Meth Project two years ago after meeting with the 
state's attorney general, Mike McGrath.

Since 2005, advertisements on Montana billboards, newspapers and 
radio and television stations aim to dissuade children between the 
ages of 12 and 17 from trying methamphetamine.

On the radio, children share methamphetamine-related horror stories. 
Montana television stations repeatedly show a boy sucking desperately 
on a small glass pipe. Outside of Great Falls -- a city roughly the 
size of Meridian -- a large billboard features a young man with a 
horribly pockmarked face.

The caption reads, "Actually, doing meth won't make it easier to hook up."

And in newspapers across the state, an ad showing a dirty bathroom 
stall is published. "No one thinks they'll lose their virginity here. 
Meth will change that. Billionaire Tom Siebel provided $5 million to 
kick-start the Montana Meth Project and another $5 million late last 
year to continue the campaign.     Idaho Gov. Butch Otter plans to 
meet with Siebel today about bringing the campaign to Idaho, but he 
intends to pick Siebel's brain, not his pocket.

Debbie Field, Otter's drug czar, said the governor already has been 
seeking out people willing to participate in a similar project in 
Idaho. She said she has a stack of cards in her office with the names 
of companies and individuals willing to help pay for it.

"He's bringing them to the table and saying, 'We need them in the 
fight,'" Field told the Post Register of Idaho Falls.   A Boise 
television station has already pledged free advertising time in 
March, and Field said she plans to have the ad campaign in full swing 
soon after. She hopes to have a statewide survey completed by this 
spring to better understand the scope of the drug problem.

She also said she envisions Idaho using taxpayer dollars to help pay 
the bills once the program proves its worth.

In Montana, Gov. Brian Schweitzer has proposed spending state money 
to help the campaign there, and U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., also 
plans to seek federal money.      Montana's project is little more 
than a year old, but data released last week by its attorney 
general's office shows that it is having an impact.

The study showed that 93 percent of Montana's students say meth use 
comes at "great risk"; workplace drug testing showed a 73 percent 
decrease in the number of people testing positive for meth in 2006; 
and meth-related crime decreased by 53 percent from 2005 to 2006.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman