Meth, Not Even Once

Their faces are hollow, the eyes are hooded and lifeless. Sores are everywhere and the teeth have rotted to their core. That is at least for meth users. These ads portray the many different ways meth can destroy a life, whether it be physical or morally. "My mom knows I'd never hurt her. Then she got in the way." A middle class mother lies bleeding under the kitchen sink.
The "Meth, Not Even Once" ads follow the pattern of the Faces of Meth campaign by suggesting that this poisonous drug is permeating throughout middle class, white America. The Linnemann and Wall article described the fear that White America has about the destruction of the "purity" of white culture. Each ad shows a different, white face and the damage that meth has done to them. It takes the good little white girl who was the apple of her parents eyes and turn her into a meth crazed prostitute. Meth is the wolf at the door. It is the fear that parents have about their kids, that they might fall off the track and lose themselves forever.
This isn't to say that meth isn't a seriously problematic drug. However, this kind of ad campaign seems to only be directed at a white audience. It feeds on the fear that white families will become a part of the urban ghetto. But, when crack was (and is) a major problem in the urban ghetto, no ads have come to try and raise awareness of what it could do to a person.
These meth ads show how damaging a drug meth can be to White America. These ads support the status quo, that White America will remain clean and intact, but it does nothing to help other problems.
The Linnemann and Wall article will help me view these ads with a kind of distanced observation. It will remind me that, while yes, meth is a problem, it isn't the pervasive virus that these ads claim it is. I will be reminded that meth is only the tip of the iceberg and that we need to work to help not only white people but also the individuals without a voice.