"Meth Destroys" campaign hits the road

Meth Destroys
www.methfreetn.org

BRISTOL, Tenn. - The fight against methamphetamine use has jumped from the courtroom to the side of the road.
A new billboard advertising Tennessee's !Meth Destroys! campaign went up along Volunteer Parkway last week.
!It's a way to reach a lot of people who don't read the newspaper or watch TV but can't help driving up and down the road,! said Greeley Wells, Sullivan County's district attorney general.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of Tennessee donated space on the billboard, which stands between Bristol Motor Speedway and Wal-Mart on the northbound side of the parkway.
The sign, the first in Sullivan County, displays the anti-drug campaign's Web site and urges residents to join authorities in the battle against meth.
The drug, made by using household chemicals to break down pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in cold and sinus pills, produces an intense, almost immediate high. It also can cause paranoia, psychosis and death.
Wells expects to see other billboards around the county soon.
!They're going up in every county across the state,! he said.
The billboard presents a new aspect of the campaign, which has involved public service announcements on television and radio by former meth users and visits to schools by prosecutors.
Wells has visited most of the county's high schools to talk about the drug's dangers. He plans to start on the county middle schools and the high schools in Bristol and Kingsport next.
!It has been a huge success from the standpoint of getting people's attention,! he said. !They've been very interested at all the schools we've been to.!
At one school, a girl walked up to Wells after the program in tears.
!She told us her best friend had died from a meth overdose,! he said.
Wells believes the campaign offers a way to head off drug addiction before it can start.
!The program seems to be going well statewide,! he said.
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