Pubdate: Wed, 09 Nov 2011
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2011 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Jordan Steffen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COLORADO METH PROJECT LAUNCHES ONLINE EFFORT TO REACH TEENS

The Colorado Meth Project has launched a digital anti-methamphetamine 
campaign designed to answer teenagers' questions about the drug as 
well as raise awareness about its dangers.

About 20 teenagers joined Colorado Attorney General John Suthers at 
Denver's George Washington High School on Tuesday, where he announced 
the new campaign and website, MethProject.org.

The website is part of the Ask MethProject.org campaign, which takes 
a multimedia approach to provide teenagers with more than 350 facts 
about meth. The website prompts teenagers with questions, slide shows 
and personal accounts from recovering addicts.

"My guess is we will see, nationally, a large number of hits on this 
website," Suthers said. "My guess is we're going to see progress from this."

According to the 2011 Colorado Meth Use and Attitude Survey, 88 
percent of teenagers in the state see "great risk" in trying meth 
once or twice, up 9 percentage points from 2009, when the program 
started in Colorado.

The website will be integrated into classroom curricula and other 
awareness programs across the state, said Kent MacLennan, executive 
director of the Colorado Meth Project.

"There is an increased awareness about the dangers of the drug," Mac 
Lennan said. "Now, there is a deeper opportunity to gather 
information on the drug, and that's an opportunity that was missing."

One online exercise looks similar to the game "Operation." Visitors 
use tweezers to collect different items from a body, and each item 
details meth's effects on that part of the body.

The website coincides with the premier of three TV ads, created by 
Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky, and continues the graphic 
nature of earlier campaigns. One ad shows a mother trying to bandage 
her daughter's wrist after she attempts to commit suicide.

Ashley Hatzenbihler, a 17-year-old senior at Regis Jesuit High 
School, joined the program's teen advisory council after a friend 
became addicted to meth and committed suicide.

"When people see the ads, they see what happens, but they don't know 
why," Hatzenbihler said. "Now, this can help answer why people in the 
ads have yellow teeth."

Hatzenbihler helped 16-year-old Miyah Hall, a junior at George 
Washington, navigate the website.

"I've seen the ads on TV and on billboards, but this was different," 
Hall said. "This kind of showed me what meth can really do."

Colorado ranks seventh in the nation for the number of meth users 12 
and older, according to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The Colorado Meth Project is a nonprofit organization and is part of 
the national Meth Project, which operates in eight states.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom