Project attacks drug threat
An educational effort to prevent individuals from falling prey to the addictive nature of methamphetamine was launched last month in the Springfield, Decatur and Champaign areas.
The Illinois Meth Project embarked on a saturation campaign in print and broadcast media and community outreach with the core message of “Not Even Once.”
The campaign was projected to reach 70 to 90 percent of teenagers in the Central Illinois region three to five times each week. The advertisements can be accessed at http://www.illinoismethproject.org.
Methamphetamine has been cited by the U.S. Department of Justice as the primary drug threat in Central and Southern Illinois, and is growing is use in the Chicago area.
Illinois ranks fourth in the country in meth-related arrests, and 72 percent of state residents in treatment for methamphetamine addiction began using it by the age of 17.
“We have taken steps to curb the soaring number of meth labs in Illinois, but this fight is far from over,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in Springfield, where the campaign was announced Feb. 11.
She noted that the Meth Project nationally “has delivered measurable results unlike any other prevention I have seen” since it was initiated in 2005 in Montana.
An advisory council to the Illinois Meth Project is chaired by Michael T. Reagan of Herbolsheimer, Lannon, Henson, Duncan & Reagan, Ottawa.