Meth Project has earned respect. Inter Lake editorial

The Montana Meth Project is under attack, but it's a weak siege from an obscure corner of academia that fails to undermine the program's obvious effectiveness.

A study published in the journal Prevention Science, "Drugs, Money and Graphic Ads: A Critical Review of the Montana Meth Project," comes from a doctoral candidate at the University of Western Australia.

The review basically asserts that the Meth Project emphasizes positive numbers and downplays evidence that meth is still a part of the state's criminal landscape. The study points out that the project has received millions of dollars in support from the state and federal governments. This year, it is slated to get $500,000 in Gov. Brian Schweitzer's proposed budget.

"Legislators have been provided with a 'sugar-coated' account of the program's effectiveness," the study's author says. "The ads do not appear to be anywhere near as effective as the Meth Project has claimed."

Really now? Intuitively and anecdotally, we have reason to doubt that conclusion about ads that have a visceral, sobering and even frightening effect. Even the billboard versions of the TV ads are striking compared to your average, humdrum roadside public announcements. If you wonder about the effectivness of the ads, just ask a teenager what he or she thinks.

Or hear what Gov. Schweitzer had to say after viewing Meth Project ads: "I was gasping. I couldn't breathe during some of those ads."

But we won't rely on soft intuition alone. There is plenty of statistical evidence to suggest that the study's challenge of the program's effectiveness is off-base.

Meth use has plummeted in Montana, and though the Meth Project's executive director does not claim the project is entirely responsible for that trend, she does cite project surveys showing that large majorities of responding teens have said that the ads made them believe that meth is dangerous to try even once.

Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath issued a report finding that teen meth use had declined nearly 45 percent since 2005, when the Meth Project ad campaign started, and meth-related crime has dropped 62 percent since then.

Back in 2005, Montana ranked fifth in the nation for meth abuse, but as of April of this year, it was ranked 39th on the same scale.

The numbers have been impressive enough that Arizona, Idaho, Illinois and Wyoming have developed programs of their own modeled after the Montana Meth Project. More states are expected to do so in the coming year.

Schweitzer and Montana lawmakers will be making tough budget choices this year, and they will have to weigh the effectiveness of the programs they fund. Fair enough. But when it comes to the effectiveness of the Montana Meth Project, Schweitzer should stick with his gut reaction, rather than relying on an academic from the University of Western Australia.