Anti-meth ad campaign moving across country

The nation's drug czar launched an ad campaign this month encouraging communities, including Salt Lake City, across the country to help in the fight against methamphetamine.

The 30-second public service announcements were introduced on television in Springfield, in southwestern Missouri, which leads the nation in illegal meth-lab seizures. The ads will run in 22 other cities in coming weeks.

The campaign comes as the Bush administration and many states are stepping up efforts to stop the spread of meth, an addictive stimulant that can be prepared or "cooked" in makeshift labs with over-the-counter cold tablets and common household chemicals.

The ads warn of the harmful effects of meth labs on communities. Viewers are referred to a Web site, www.drugfree.org/Meth, with information about toxic byproducts, crime, and the plight of the children of meth cookers and addicts.

"The meth problem needs the individual contribution of more citizens in their neighborhoods and their communities," said John Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The ads will also run in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Miami, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Minneapolis, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, Savannah, Tampa and St. Petersburg.

The ads were produced for free for the joint campaign with the Partnership for a Drug Free America.