Op-Ed: Montana State Drops `Soft Shoe Approach` in Meth Fighting

While anti-meth messages for Oregon kids have to be created in a way that is “not too shocking,� Montana’s new anti-meth ad campaign absolutely jars the senses and its rave reviews could be a sign of a better idea.

One of the print and outdoor ads in Montana's anti-meth campaign. See everything at: http://www.montanameth.org

(SALEM) - Folks in Big Sky Country say they`re taking crime and health problems stemming from methamphetamine in their state by the horns, in the process ignoring politically correct approaches employed in Oregon and other states that many say put rose colored shades on a problem eating at the very heart of the population, young and old alike.

Examples of this soft shoe approach include toned down curriculums in education that try to only cast a positive light on the meth problem. Providing answers and alternatives are good ideas, no doubt, showing kids who find alternative activities is positive, but it is a bit like saying, `Look at me, I`m a mainstream kid, I want to give you a young version of the same old stuff you`ve been hearing all of your life."

The kids they`re going to reach with a message from Johnny Quarterback are not the kids we`re worried about in the first place. The at-risk kids may not play sports, but they might like music, and their friends, and the right message when they are young can make or break what could eventually become a vicious cycle. Those friends will in the end either enable abuse, or they will support each other and use friendship the right way.

But kids keep using meth and more needs to be done. They aren`t too scared to say yes the first time.

But they might be, if they saw one of Montana anti-meth PSA`s that are airing on TV in the Billings market and other parts of the state. They are scary, really scary. Kids don`t want to be what these commercials show. They are tough on the senses but they get the point across. Produced at an extremely high standard, the videos are receiving high marks from advertising industry sites around the globe. AdCritic.com placed the Montana anti-meth ad campaign on their top-20 list.

What the advertisements show is the truth. From the time we are children, we are taught to divulge the full truth in our life. That is what always threw me off about Oregon`s approach to meth fighting when it comes to education. Sorry, but kid gloves don`t do much in the meth fight. We might as well stand there and wait for the final blow, especially if we aren`t willing to properly evaluate our opponent in the first place.

NBC national news covered the story Saturday night. They interviewed Montana kids who said they would never want to ruin their lives that way. They said they were shocked and suddenly educated as to the real darkness of the drug.

Oregon officials say a `scared straight approach" is not effective, but I don`t know whose statistics they are using to reach that conclusion. The `scared straight" concept hits people hard. It is loud, foul, emotional and at times sickening. I don`t know what other method exists that is more to the point. I sincerely doubt in fact, that any kids who had a scared straight experience thought the murderers were pulling their leg.

Oregon public Broadcasting recently covered Oregon`s meth pandemic. What left people talking, was the series of youthful faces that almost disintegrate over a short period of meth use. Some of us in Oregon who believe in approaches similar to Montana`s are denied types of federal assistance in meth fighting. If we want to be involved in the creation of meth fighting videos for example, we have to toe the line and not create any messages that are too offensive. I`m just not sure the soft method is enough.

Salem`s former Police Chief Walt Myers used to point at my television camera and say, `That is the key, the single best tool in the meth fighting arsenal." I never doubted it, and after watching the Montana state meth fighting advertisements, I believe it even more.

Many of us in Oregon who are closely involved with the meth problem through professional and volunteer roles know that damage happens fast. Teeth are lost, discretion goes to the wayside, violence and neglect are rampant, and children suffer in unimaginable ways. Lives are simply ruined, taken past the point of no return.

If Montana`s approach is the correct and proper way, then I hope they have success with it so that someday states that lag in the background on issues, like Oregon, can get inspired and play catch up, with cool states like Montana and, uh, Oklahoma, blazing the trail ahead for us. I wasn`t born here, people tell me that Oregon used to lead the way on major, important issues. I`m still waiting to see it.