IMPERIAL, Mo. - Jefferson County sheriff's Deputy Larry Michaels has tried everything to teach high school students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol - but nothing has held their attention quite like a new computer program that shows them what they will look like after they use methamphetamine.
"I've never seen the look of shock on their faces like I have with this," Michaels said, shortly after several Windsor High School students volunteered to have their faces digitally altered during a health class to show how they would look after six months, one year and three years of meth abuse. "They can actually see themselves; there's no imagining there."
The Dec. 17 health class, which included freshmen through seniors, was among the first to use the computer program, called Face2Face, which mimics the physical effects of the drug, known for causing skin lesions and sagging, as well as tooth decay.
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At first, it was difficult to get any girls to volunteer to have their image altered in front of their peers, Michaels said.
The health class at Windsor High School initially laughed and giggled when the images first appeared on the screen, especially as the computer program moved and manipulated their faces before settling on the final image.
But the laughs soon subsided, eyes widened and comments began.
"Why would anyone do that?"
"Oh, my God, that's horrible."
Senior Jessica Ackermann, 17, said her face altered to simulate three years of meth abuse resembled a zombie from Michael Jackson's music video for "Thriller."
Ackermann said it was unlike any other anti-drug presentation she had ever experienced.
"Other ones tell you about it; this one actually shows you what you would look like," she said.
Michaels said he knew the program had been a success because just hours after the first students had seen it, other teachers were asking if they could use it in their classes.
"They're definitely talking about it," Michaels said.
Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer learned about the program in October and asked Jefferson County P.R.I.D.E., or Partners Responsible for Increasing Drug Education, to work with the sheriff's department and pay for the $3,000 software.
Cindy Pharis, P.R.I.D.E. programs coordinator, has been taking pictures of students in classrooms and morphing them into meth addicts on projector screens. She said she hasn't incorporated much lecturing into the presentations because the images are powerful enough.
"It's not overblown," Pharis said. "It's putting reality in their face."
She said she believes the program is unlike other campaigns, which try to use fear to steer children away from using drugs.
One of the most common of those is called "Faces of Meth," which shows mug shots of meth users throughout the progression of their addictions.
Research has found fear-based tactics, such as the Montana Meth Project, don't prevent high-risk teens from deviant behavior, said Dennis Embry, a leading prevention scientist and advocate. That advertising campaign used gritty images of teens experiencing the consequences of meth use, including declines in health and living conditions, amphetamine psychosis, moral compromise and regret.
Embry said research shows fear-mongering fails to prevent high-risk teens from using drugs. In fact, such tactics can reinforce the thrill they are seeking through risky behavior. Those most likely to respond to programs such as Face2Face or Faces of Meth are not prone to use drugs anyway, he said.
If teens laugh at the images used in the Face2Face program, or dare each other to do it, it's a bad omen, said Embry, president of the PAXIS Institute in Tucson.
"You can walk into an average classroom of 30 kids, and you might have two in the room who have the predictors of meth use," Embry said. "What you can get is a very pronounced reaction by the 28 kids who are unlikely to use in first place, but the question is, 'What does it to do for the one kid who bears all the predictors?' "
Those predictors include family history of addiction as well as physical and sexual abuse.
Embry said the idea of using a teen's own image may have some value because it could cause them to shift their drug of choice.
"Maybe you stop them from trying meth, and that's a good thing."
