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Rural Meth Awareness Project Originally conceived as a statewide project, Prairie Public, North Dakota’s public broadcasting service, expanded the scope to embrace South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Wisconsin whose elected leaders, criminal justice systems, health care professionals and residents share the impact of the methamphetamine epidemic. According to 2005 DEA statistics, New York state, with a population exceeding 19,000,000, had 35 Meth Lab Incidents. North Dakota, population 636,677 had 159 for the same year, Nebraska had 224 and Iowa had 753!
Producers from Iowa Public Television, Pioneer Public Television (MN), South Dakota Public Broadcasting, NET Television(NB), Wisconsin Public Television, KCPT (KS) and Prairie Public (ND) began working in September, 2006, just a few weeks after Prairie Public received notification that its grant proposal to the US Department of Justice had been funded through the Rural Crime and Justice Center at Minot State University, Minot, ND Executive Producer, Kim Stenehjem, Prairie Public noted, “Unlike other drugs, meth got its start in rural areas where it was easy to hide the meth labs, but it’s now expanding to urban areas. Methamphetemine is a threat not just to one isolated part of this country, it’s a national threat.” Rural Meth Awareness Project producing stations will use the power of the regions’ public television and public radio stations to reach area residents and increase public awareness and discussion, not only regarding the issues, but about important ways communities can fight against the methamphetamine epidemic that is sweeping the country.
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Shadow of Meth is funded by a grant from the US Department of Justice through the Rural Crime & Justice Center at Minot State University |
