Meth ads hit home with Montana readers

Since 2005, the ads have been everywhere — frightening pictures of meth addiction on billboards, in print and television ads. Young addicts telling their stories on television and radio.

Altogether, the message went out thousands of times to Montana’s young people: Not even once.

Tom Siebel, a billionaire software businessman and part-time Montana resident, conceived of the Montana Meth Project http://www.montanameth.org/ and put up millions of dollars to start it in 2005.

It’s won advertising awards, and has been emulated in half a dozen other states. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy sang its virtues.

But recently some people, including experts on addiction and an Australian researcher, have questioned whether claims by Siebel and others about the Montana Meth Project’s effectiveness have been overblown.

So we asked readers their impression in our Question of the Week: “Has the Montana Meth Project made you or your children more aware of the dangers of using meth?”

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2009/07/13/opinions/top/irview_090713.txt