Speed television (California)

Sara Watson Arthurs The Times-Standard

HUMBOLDT HILL -- It's time to talk seriously about methamphetamine in this community.

That's the message of several related efforts to educate the public about the dangers of methamphetamine. Television and radio documentaries, a guidebook and a theater piece are all gaining steam.

KEET-TV staff showed a clip from the public television station's new documentary, “Life After Meth: Facing the North Coast Methamphetamine Crisis,” at a Wednesday press conference.

The documentary will air Tuesday, along with a separate documentary made by Zoe Barnum High School students with the help of KEET. They include interviews with recovering addicts, drug counselors, law enforcement and community members.

The station received $104,500 in grants from the Benton Foundation and the California Endowment to create a methamphetamine awareness campaign in partnership with Lost Coast Communications, the high school, the Raven Project, North Coast AIDS Project and Humboldt County Mental Health Dual Recovery Services. Representatives of all these agencies were on hand for the press conference.

Lost Coast Communications has created its own two-part documentary, which will run May 10 and 11 on the company's radio stations. Both Lost Coast Communications and the Zoe Barnum students also created public service announcements.

The radio PSAs were played at the press conference. In one, a woman describes the toll meth use took on her body -- including a stroke and memory problems. Lost Coast Communications Program Director Mike Dronkers said the station aimed to avoid a didactic “Just Say No” approach, instead looking at the complex issue in more detail.

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http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3758662