by Claire McGuire

The Montana Meth project came to Capital High on January 13th to launch wave 5 of the campaign against methamphetamine use in Montana.  Capital Highs auditorium played host to the top people involved in the Montana Meth campaign, including executive director of the project Bill Slaughter and Secretary of State Linda McCulloch.  The speakers made it clear that they wanted the high school community to stay intimately involved with the Project.  When McCulloch got up to speak she won the crowd right away, first praising the students for being showing up, then with a “Go Bruins!”, she cemented her appeal.  As a former Superintendent of schools and elementary McCulloch was very comfortable in the High School, she talked about how important student involvement is and the success of the MMP in general.

Later when speaking with Linda McCulloch it was made clear that her interest in the Project was in fact “personal.” The rap sheet of a student she once had remains on her desk to remind her what an intense impact Meth can have on an individual and a community. She also talked about the fact that “as the Secratary of State my focus is on buisness and those things but frankly, nothing in Montana can function well if we are having to deal with something that is costing the State 2 million dollars.” The fact that the Project is putting a focus on prevention, education and treatment was also a theme of the talk.  There were also a healthy amount of references back to last year when students, many of them from Capital High, participated in a march on the Capital to show support for the Montana Meth Project getting more money from the state.

Mrs. Conns’ Marketing class was able to get up in front of some of their peers and show off some of the advertisements that they had designed.  This was of course a warm up act to the actual new wave 5 advertisments.  The basic message of the ads has always remained the same, yet with each new wave the Project tries a new angle constantly vigilant when waging the war on this dangerous drug.  This wave has a serious focus on silence not being acceptable when informed about a friends intent to use.  Mr. Carlson was very passionate about the message saying, “I just love the message this time around, silence, kills.”  The new ads also focused on the fact that meth use can entirely remove a loved one and replace them with someone foreign and even dangerous.  Most had already viewed the ads but Linda McCulloch said that she had wanted to wait and watch them the first time with the students, then when asked how the reactions of the students compared to her own she stated, “they were exactly like my reactions.”  McCulloch was also very blunt about the fact that the target for the Project will always be zero Meth use in Montana and that until they reach that the Project will continue work.  When asked why the 5th wave of ads weren’t nearly as graphic as some in the past Bill Slaughter referred to the fact that the MT meth project used focus groups and how the ads were constantly adapting to try and keep the attention of the public especially teenagers and woman who seemed to be the most susceptible to the drug.

The real goal of the day was to keep high school students involved in a Project that is aimed mainly at their own protection.  It was also to bring a message to the schools loud and clear that every student can be responsible for making sure their friends and loved ones don’t abuse this drug. It seems as if they had the desired effect one student, senior Reece Easterling, even said that “The commercials were sweet, they were moving and extremely well done.” So as wave 5 hits the streets the Montana Meth Project once again has the support of Helena area students.
See video footage @ bruinnewsroom.com

Not Even Once