Editorials

Meth is a killer, a man-made destroyer of human flesh that's as impossible for an addict to flee as it is for a swimmer to remain dry. It rots teeth, influences moods, creates profound bouts of depression and anxiety, generates wild, sci-fi-like hallucinations and clutches users with a seemingly iron and inescapable hand.

Its effect on crime? That may be the true measure of its impact on American society.

Meth is one bad dude.

That's one reason why the state is investing $1 million on an anti-meth advertising campaign designed to shock Alabama teens so severely that they'll avoid becoming another meth casualty. The other reason is that for all of the advances in combating this epidemic, meth remains one of the predominant illegal-drug concerns of law enforcement and addiction experts.

Alabama's "Zerometh" campaign contains undeniable merit, both for its content and its format. The campaign's Web site houses much of what you'd expect — information about how the drug is made, its garish health effects, how to get rehabilitation help — from a state government-sponsored program. (Critics, however, do claim that it fails to adequately address the sex and prostitution aspect of many meth users.)

Interested thus far? Click over to the campaign's Web site. This isn't the normal Goat Hill fare.

The site is stark, depressing, layered in dark colors — the pages resemble those on many rock band Web sites — and an ominous feel. The site isn't meant to only impart information. It's meant to scare.

Quotes from young meth users plague every page. The picture they paint is as frightening as are the site's photos of mouths with yellowed, rotten teeth and bleeding gums.

"I used to be pretty; no one told me I'd end up looking like this," says Darlene, 20. "My family is scared of me," says Joe, 21. "'When you steal to get some (meth), it's gonna be the last time.' That's what you tell yourself," says 15-year-old Molly.

It's no secret that you can't reach teens with ads designed for wonkish adults. You reach them in their comfort zone, in ways in which they can relate. That this cutting-edge campaign will take its TV ads to American Idol and MTV — at great expense — will only enhance its chance at success. Other states that have used similar campaigns have seen impressive results.

Until now, much of the state's meth efforts have targeted production. The 2005 law requiring IDs and signatures to buy pseudoephedrine — a main meth ingredient — has worked, but only to a degree. Meth demand remains strong, and where there's demand, illegal-drug makers will try to create a supply.

A million bucks for on an advertising campaign may seem an exorbitant price for a state facing widespread budget woes. But Alabama is wise to remind its young people of meth's killer instinct. If it takes a cool million to do so, it's money well spent.