'Meth. We're On It.': South Dakota spends $449K on new anti-meth ad campaign

Gov. Kristi Noem has a message for South Dakota: "Meth. We're On It."

Noem launched her new anti-meth campaign on Monday to bring awareness to the meth epidemic in South Dakota that will include a new TV ad, billboards, posters and website. The campaign's motto features the phrase, "Meth. We're on it," over an outline of South Dakota, and the ad and posters feature people of differing in ages and races saying, "I'm on meth."

South Dakota's meth crisis is "growing at an alarming rate" and impacts every community in the state, Noem said in the campaign's public service announcement.

"This is our problem and together, we need to get on it," Noem said.

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Broadhead Co., a marketing and ad agency in Minneapolis, created the "Meth. We're On It." campaign. The state's Department of Social Services paid the agency just short of $449,000 this fall, according to the state's finances website, open.sd.gov.

The state's 2020 budget also includes $1 million for meth treatment services and more than $730,000 for school-based meth prevention programming. The state has also implemented meth task forces in Sioux Falls and Pennington County, according to the campaign announcement.

"It is filling our jails and prisons, clogging our court systems and stretching our drug treatment capacity while destroying people and their families," Noem said.

Social Services Secretary Laurie Gill called the campaign "inclusive and empowering." Eighty-three percent of South Dakota's 2019 court admissions for controlled substances are related to meth, according to Gill.

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"It's evident there's a need for an aggressive approach to reduce use of the devastating drug. This is a movement to educate South Dakotans on the signs of addiction, the treatment resources that are available and how to implement prevention techniques in their homes and among their communities," Gill said in the announcement.

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This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Governor Kristi Noem launches anti-meth campaign 'Meth. We're On It.'