By Staff
Jonathan Willis
There will soon be photos of beautiful, healthy people shown across Franklin County.
They will contain smiling faces of people who appear to be looking at a bright future and great things in store.
There will also be, however, pictures of people with rotting teeth and mangled hair, many that look as if though they are at the point of death.
The reality will be that those two types of photos will be taken of the same people.
It is a grim reminder of the damaging effects that methamphetamine takes on those who use it.
The images are part of a statewide initiative to raise awareness to meth use.
"It is one of the worst problems that we have ever encountered," Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said, citing the damaging impact meth takes on users and those around them.
Rushing's office is joining the attorney general's office and local offices across Alabama in the Zero Meth campaign.
There will be a series of television commercials statewide portraying the effects of addiction and the kind of world that meth use leads to.
The campaign offers a hard-hitting approach to educating the public about the dangers of meth use. It uses sometimes graphic material to show the impact it makes on a person's body.
Rushing said federal and state dollars would allow his office to offer educational and promotional materials in the county.
"It is a problem that continues to hurt our people, including children," Rushing said. "We have seen some cases that are almost unimaginable, but they happened, and it was because of meth use.
"Hopefully we can take this approach and raise awareness so that we can fight this epidemic head on by preventing some of it before it starts."