HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Alana Wozney, Melanie Lawdensky, and Jacob Rodgers perform the skit written, directed, and designed by the 18 youths who participated in the "Methodology Project," an anit-methamphetamine campaign. HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Faith Phillips and Jacob Rodgers perform a skit written and directed by the 18 Nye County youths involved in the "Methodologies Project." The participants also created an "Inside Out" youth gallery, two 30-second commercials aired on local television stations, and two magazine ads, all designed by the young people. Advertisement

It's not uncommon for the federal government to award grants to youth groups as part of an anti-drug campaign.

As a general rule, the money goes to publishing pamphlets for distribution or possibly printing T-shirts with an anti-drug slogan.

But the 18 youths here in Nye County who participated in the "Methodologies Project," a grant-funded anti-methamphetamine program put on by WestCare and the Nye County Communities Coalition, found a unique and positive way to address the problem.

First of all, instead of focusing on statistics of death and risk, the "Methodology" group centered their message on the 88 percent of Nye County youth who are not using drugs.

They did this to pose A question: Why does the other 12 percent of youths hold so much sway over how adults view not only young people, but the community itself?

As far as this group is concerned, the glass is 88 percent full.

But the group didn't simply content itself with a slogan, and they certainly went above and beyond the traditional pamphlet listing the dangers of meth.

Instead, the group, ranging from middle school students to high school students, put on a multi-media campaign and has been touring the county to get its message across.

The group has performed a "live show," based loosely on parodies of talk shows, game shows, and commercials in Tonopah, Gabbs, Beatty, and even at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

The youngsters worked on every aspect of the show, including designing the sets, writing it, and even arranging the lighting.

Accompanying every performance was the "Inside Out" youth art gallery, featuring art work done by students in Esmeralda and Nye counties that inform their peers about the danger of meth use in a more self-expressive and creative way.

The stage and art are only two media, however, and this group wasted no time or any of the money from the Nevada State Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency in going all-out.

They have also designed two magazine ads (look for them in "Spotlight on Pahrump") and two 30-second commercial spots which began airing April 1 on KVPM's news simulcast with KNYE radio.

The program culminated with all the projects being shown together at one "big event" May 13 at the Nugget.