Students experience "Meth Destroys" campaign

BLUFF CITY – Students watched as the images flashed across the screen, one after the other – a tearful former methamphetamine user, a slamming jail door, a trailer blown to pieces.

!It got my attention,! said Stephanie Seymour, a senior at Sullivan East High School. !I’d heard about meth before, but I didn’t know how close it was to us.!

She and the rest of Sullivan East’s students got a closer look at the drug and its dangers Wednesday as authorities brought Tennessee’s new !Meth Destroys! campaign to the school.

!It’s the most dangerous drug that our society has come across,! said Greeley Wells, Sullivan County district attorney general. !It has no medical benefit. It makes you high, and it will kill you.!

Users make meth, which mimics adrenaline, by mixing household chemicals such as acetone and drain cleaner to break down pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in most over-the-counter cold and sinus pills. The process can produce deadly fumes, fires and explosions.

Sullivan County hasn’t seen as many meth cases as others around the state, particularly since Tennessee moved pseudoephedrine behind the counter last year. Wells hopes to keep it that way.

He and Gene Perrin, an assistant prosecutor, plan to visit all the county’s middle and high schools as part of the campaign.

!We’re here because we care about you,! Perrin told the students. !We’re here because we don’t want you coming to (the courthouse in) Blountville. Once you come to Blountville, I no longer care about you. I only care about protecting society. The only question there is, how long are you going to prison?!

Students watched the video !Meth is Death,! produced by the state last year, which includes the stories of former meth users mixed in with rock music, MTV-style effects and warnings about the drug’s threats to users, their neighbors and children.

In the video, David Parnell, a former meth addict from Middle Tennessee, describes becoming so paranoid on the drug he shot holes in the wall of his home. He also described becoming so desperate he shot part of his face off in a failed suicide attempt.

!It takes your soul,! says Jeff Moore, another former user interviewed on the video.

Wells said he didn’t go to the school to scare students.

!The scary part is that this is the truth,! he said. !That’s what happens to you if you take meth.!

Meth arrests in Tennessee, which once ranged in the thousands, have begun to level off since the stricter laws took effect. But just moving a few pills out of reach won’t solve the problem, Wells said.

!It’s still a tremendous problem,! he said. !The danger is less from the homemade labs. But the number of people using it and addicted to it is still up. There’s still a market for it.!

He hopes taking the fight to the schools will help keep young people from trying the drug.

Most students said they got the message.

!It really helped us see how big a problem this is,! said Henry Dutton, a senior.

Principal Mary Rouse believes the talk gave the students something to think about.

!Do I think it got everyone’s attention? No,! she said. !Do I think it got some people’s attention? Yes. That’s how you chip away at a problem like this, one piece at a time.!