A new anti-drug advertisement shows the devastating physical transformation addicts experience after years of meth use.
The photos, that show a shocking deterioration, were compiled from mug shots of drug users that were arrested repeatedly over the years.
The continued drug use caused horrific damage to the drug users’ skin with sores and scarring – that can be caused by uncontrollable scratching during a hallucination when the addict imagines bugs are crawling under their skin.
Additional changes seen in the ad, produced by Rehabs.com, include the so-called “meth mouth” caused by decay and grinding.
Users also progressively began to look gaunt, brought on by malnutrition as the drug suppresses a person’s appetite and the body can begin to consume muscle tissue due to the lack of proper nutrition.
The concept for this kind of ad was actually conceived in 2004, by Deputy Bret King from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon.
The officer began tracking mugshots of people who were brought in to police custody more than once.
Over the years he began to witness the physical transformation that occurred in methamphetamine addicts.
He decided to compile the photos for an anti-drug campaign in December 2004 – to educate children on the realities of the drug.
“I’ve made it my business to go through the mug shot system every day. I’ll admit it: I’m looking for the most extreme faces,” he told The Oregonian in 2004 about the project.
The recent video and pictorial from Rehabs.com comes after a 2011 photo spread from the Oregon police, From Drugs to Mugs, that shows the impact of all hard drugs including cocaine, heroin and meth.
“Everyone experiments at college or school and I want From Drugs to Mugs to show kids that everyone in those pictures started on cannabis, they didn’t just dive head first into heroin.”
“So I ask the students at schools to look at these people and think about their actions, otherwise that could end up being you,” Deputy Bret King said in 2011.
The Multnomah Sheriff’s Office has also produced a heart-wrenching educational documentary to aid in its fight against young people turning to drugs.
“I want to be able to illustrate the connection between that first decision to use drugs and then down the road when it’s a horrible mess,” Bret King said.
Expanding their presentation, which is to be aired in high schools across America, the law enforcement officer and his team interviewed 300 adult inmates at Multnomah County’s Inverness Jail.
In the 48-minute video, Drug Enforcement Administration officers are interviewed about how they find and arrest drug abusers.
Deputy Bret King added testimony from Multnomah County jail inmates who had been arrested in burglaries and other crimes that have been linked to drug use.
It is Deputy Bret King’s hope that the video will show teens how easy it is to fall into drug habits.
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