The Montana meth project: 'unselling' a dangerous drug.

• Author: Siebel, Thomas M.
• Position: Symposium: Drug Laws: Policy and Reform

Anyone concerned about the high cost and the continued need to fight the war on drugs should care about what has happened in Montana since 2005. While teen use of methamphetamine (meth) remained relatively constant across the nation from 2005 to 2007, it fell by forty-five percent in Montana. (3) During the same period, the percentage of workers testing positive for meth in the state declined by seventy-two percent, and meth-related crime dropped by sixty-two percent. (4)

These positive developments reflect the work of the Meth Project, a large(5) scale marketing campaign designed to discourage meth use among teenagers. The success of the campaign has attracted the attention of law enforcement and drug policy officials in other states. Indeed, Arizona, (6) Idaho, (7) Illinois, (8) and Wyoming (9) have adopted the Meth Project model, and a number of other states are expected to follow suit.

This Article describes the meth problem, the Meth Project, the results it produced in Montana, and some key features of its model.

THE PROBLEM

"Meth makes crack look like candy." (10) This sentiment, expressed by a midwestern sheriff, is commonplace among law enforcement officials, treatment professionals, and others on the front lines of the battle against this drug. While crack is still the drug of choice in America's inner cities, the meth epidemic has affected large portions of rural America and some urban and suburban areas as well. In a 2006 survey by the National Association of Counties, nearly half of the counties surveyed identified meth as their primary drug threat, more than cocaine (twenty-two percent), marijuana (twenty-two percent) and heroin (three percent) combined. (11)

Meth operates on the pleasure chemistry of the brain. When smoked or injected, meth floods the brain with the pleasure-producing chemical dopamine, causing a rush of pleasure that is significantly greater than the pleasure produced by other illicit drugs and by "normal" human experiences. (12) Research shows that food increases normal dopamine levels by fifty percent, and cocaine increases levels by 300 percent. (13) The use of methamphetamine can increase dopamine levels more than three times the level of cocaine, to over 1000 percent. (14)

The initial rush experienced by a meth user is followed by a euphoric high that lasts eight to twenty-four hours, much longer than the relatively brief high induced by crack cocaine. (15) Because meth costs about the same as or less than crack but delivers a stronger rush and longer-lasting high, it attracts a large population of illicit drug users. As one leading expert put it: "From a marketing point of view, meth really gives you a bigger bang for your buck." (16)

While meth can be purchased for a low price, it exacts a very high price on the health and well-being of the user. Many users quickly develop an intense craving for the drug. As the addictive process develops, one use leads to another, and repeated use alters the chemistry of the brain, making it difficult, and then impossible for the user to experience pleasure from anything in life but meth. (17) Taking meth can be likened to standing in front of a speaker at rock concert and realizing, afterwards, that your ears are ringing and your hearing is impaired. Go to enough rock concerts and your hearing is not just impaired, it is damaged.

Just as a person with damaged hearing has to turn up the volume to hear anything at all, a person with a meth-damaged brain has to turn up the pleasure to feel anything at all. Normal life experiences no longer produce pleasure, and may cease to matter at all to many meth addicts. Children, family, friends, employment, sports, hobbies, church, and community often fall by the wayside or--worse yet--become obstacles to the only thing the serious meth user wants: more meth. (18) Some meth addicts will do anything to get meth, no matter how degrading or destructive.

The social and economic costs of the meth epidemic are staggering. Meth addicts often neglect or abuse their children. (19) They under-perform at their jobs and cause other problems in the workplace, leading to lost productivity. (20) Those who make their own meth create toxic waste sites in their kitchens, garages, and cars. (21) Many meth addicts steal to support their habit. (22) When meth addicts drive under the influence of meth, they endanger innocent bystanders. (23) When they are "tweaking"--coming down from an extended high--they are often paranoid, erratic and violent. They may lash out at those around them; especially those who stand between themselves and more meth. Meth users attack, injure, and sometimes kill people, from loved ones to law enforcement officers. (24)

In meth-infested communities, meth addicts place a heavy burden on emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities. (25) They often fill up county jails, (26) state prisons, and federal penitentiaries and, once there, run up substantial medical and dental bills. (27) In Montana in 2005, half the jail population was incarcerated for meth-related offenses. (28)

Because meth manufacture and use are crimes--and because they often lead to other crimes--meth addicts often occupy a disproportionate amount of time and resources for local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. (29) Addicts are often unable to care for their children, placing a burden on foster care systems. (30) Half the children in Montana's foster care system in 2005 were there because of meth, for example. (31) Adding to the burden on communities, makeshift meth labs generate toxic waste that meth makers toss in ditches, streams, and woods. Roughly fifteen percent of known meth labs are discovered because they blow up or burn down. (32)

Faced with the staggering costs of methamphetamine use in their state, Montana state officials sought to target the supply side of the problem. One of the most significant supply-side reduction activity initiatives in Montana was the 2005 legislation that restricted the sale of and access to ephedrine or pseudo-ephedrine products. (33) The law went into effect in mid-2006. It greatly reduced the number of small clandestine methamphetamine production labs in Montana, often referred to as "Ma and Pa shops." (34) Anecdotal reports by the state's drug task forces, however, indicate the availability of methamphetamine remained high even after the 2006 initiative, due to the ongoing activity of interstate and international drug trafficking groups. (35)

In short, in Montana and elsewhere, meth has threatened the social fabric of rural communities and severely strained the resources of local and state governments.

THE PROJECT

When the Meth Project was founded in Montana, both the state and federal governments were devoting massive resources to the supply side of the problem, restricting access to meth precursors, toughening laws against meth manufacture and distribution, investigating and prosecuting those who violated the law, and increasing the...