Watching these new Montana Meth spots makes one want to grab a gun, hunt down a drug dealer, stick the barrel of the gun in his mouth and blow his fucking head off. Yes, these new Venables Bell & Partners-created spots are powerful. Very powerful. Shot in single continuous takes and directed by the brilliant Darren Aronofsky, the four spots explore the effect of Meth not just on the individual but also on that individual’s friends and family. A girlfriend gets sold for drug money. A mother gets hit by her drug-addled son while he steals her money. An overdosed girl gets dumped at the hospital by her “friends.” A husband and wife lock their out-of-control son out of their home. Powerful stuff, indeed.
As powerful as these spots most kids already know drugs are bad and should not be used. The problem is peer pressure and the strength a kid needs to break from its bonds. It’s not easy. No one wants to be the uncool one. The one who wimped out. The outcast that just won’t fit in. Difficult indeed. Consequential approaches to anti-drug use such as this Montana Meth campaign and many other anti-drug programs can only do so much. Seemingly, the drugs are out there no matter what anyone does to eliminate them.
It’s not as easy as just saying no. There are too many compelling reasons not to say no. We don’t at all pretend to have any answer to the drug problem short of allowing governments to go after drug dealers like the U.S. went after Saddam Hussein. We’re certainly not smart enough to solve this problem outright but we are smart enough to know what we’re doing apparently isn’t enough. That’s not to say this campaign bad or does not help the cause. It does. It raises awareness of the problem and acutely illustrates the dangers of drug use. And it does so in one of the most powerful ways we’ve ever seen, for which it should be highly commended.
