LAKE COUNTY — Shock value is what county supervisor Anthony Farrington said he hopes to bring to Lake County. The first meeting of what Farrington called the Lake County Meth Project will take place Feb. 7 in conference room B of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Farrington said the discussion will hinge around prevention, and will address two main ideas. The first idea is to bring an ad campaign to Lake County that is used in Montana as part of the Montana Meth Project. The other idea is creating a “speaker”s bureau,” which would allow recovered addicts to share personal accounts with middle school and high school students.
“We want to not re-invent the wheel, but share some of the success of the ads in the Montana program, which targets teens and kids from 11 to about 18 years old. Our plan of attack is to see if we can launch a similar program here in the county,” Farrington said.
Television, radio and billboard ads in Montana show graphic images of blood in the bottom of a sink drain, a dingy public restroom, a bare cot in a jail cell and a child who appears to be around 11 years old lying on a gurney with an oxygen mask.
Each image comes with a message pointing to the consequences of using methamphetamine and a statistic about methamphetamine use in the state.
“This is the beginning of something that is extremely needed,” Lori Carter-Runyon, executive director Hilltop Recovery said. Hilltop Recovery is a non-profit, 65-bed, licensed and certified residential treatment facility on Cobb Mountain for men over the age of 18. “We need to be able to get the community involved before all the damage happens. Methamphetamine is destroying families in Lake County, in California and nationwide,” Carter-Runyon said.
“Ultimately our vision is ? and I”ve had contact with the Montana Meth Project in terms of tailoring the materials to Lake County ? we would like to work out a partnership in acquiring their materials,” Farrington said. Among Farrington”s preliminary plans are approaching MediaCom to put the ads on cable channels that target children, as well as the radio stations KXBX 98.3, KMKX 93.5 and KWINE 94.5.
Representatives from Alcohol and Other Drug Services, the county mental health department, Hilltop Recovery Services, and Dist. 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith are expected to attend. Farrington said he also hopes to involve school administrators and Child Protective Services (CPS).
“Staff has indicated that in any child abuse case, over 80 percent time, meth is a component,” Farrington said.
Farrington said he does not have a dollar figure for the ad campaign yet, but may request money from the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
“It makes no sense to go before the board if CPS has no buy-in to the program, and if local facilities have no buy-in, and if local schools have no buy-in. It would be putting the cart before the horse go now before the board. The speaker”s bureau component, I think, is going to be huge.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
