“Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky has a knack for adapting nightmares to film — and he’s done it again with horrifying ads designed to deter teens from getting hooked on meth.
Aronofsky’s four 30-second videos give the viewer a sickening glimpse into the darkest depths of addiction for teenage crank addicts.
In one of the hard-hitting clips, an actor posing as a junkie is huddled over a sink full of blood during what appears to be a suicide bid.
In another, entitled “Desperate,” a young boy has been forced to turn tricks to score his next high.
“How much am I going to get for this?” the boy asks, sitting worriedly on the side of bed, having just peeled off his shirt.
To make the ads, Aronofsky, who also directed the drug-inspired flick “Requiem for a Dream,” teamed up with the Meth Project, which is funded by the Siebel Foundation.
“We wanted to show the stark reality of methamphetamine use,” Nitsa Zuppas, the foundation’s executive director, said in an interview with ABC News. “We know that if teens understand the risks, usage will decline.”
Aronofsky’s involvement marks his second time working with the Meth Project, which was launched in 2006.
Since the Project began its TV and radio ads, use of the drug has decreased 65% in Arizona, 63% in Montana and 52% in Idaho, ABC reported.
The campaign also includes an interactive website: http://www.methproject.org.
The site lists detailed information about the nasty side-effects of meth use — “scabs, rotting teeth, acne,” as well as “crank bugs” and the vile condition known as “meth mouth.”
“We knew we needed to leverage digital and social media to engage teens in a radical new way,” Zuppas said. “MethProject.org provides the means to understand the risks of meth and really influence others.”
Meth can cause heart attacks, seizures, strokes and kidney failure, and can lead to psychiatric problems, such as hallucinations and delusions.
The drug is very often a precursor to criminal behavior for users, according to Dr. Stephen Ross, clinical director of the NYU Langone Center of Excellence on Addiction.
“Meth is linked to a lot of violence,” he told ABC. “In addition to rapidly destroying an individual, it can rapidly destroy a community.”
Ross says the Meth Project will have its greatest effect by portraying these dangers.
“The average teen knows crack is bad and IV heroin is bad,” he said. “Many of them also know that cigarettes are bad.
“A public health message that conveys the dangers of the drug is most certainly effective.”
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