‘Faces of Meth’ ad a shocking look at drug use
The “Faces of Meth” — before and after police mugshots of drug users that depict the effects of methamphetamine on the human body — debuted eight years ago this month. It has aged a lot better than the folks using the drug.
A new ad has just been released and the pictures will horrify you. I’ve used one of the least shocking photos at right.
Many Americans learned most of what they know about meth from the TV crime drama “Breaking Bad.” In the acclaimed TV series, a high school chemistry teacher makes the drug in a home lab and begins selling it, raking in millions and running afoul of organized crime.
That’s what makes the drug so hard to control. Almost anyone can make it using common chemicals.
Making meth is dangerous. Toxic gasses are created and homemade labs have been known to explode.
Using meth is even worse. Whether injected, snorted or smoked, meth affects the central nervous system, creating a temporary high. It also creates brain damage and in a matter of months significantly alters the way a person looks.
Smoking the drug promotes tooth decay, causing teeth to literally rot out of the user’s head. The so-called “meth mouth” is easily observed in the photos.
Meth also creates acne or makes it worse. Frequent drug users pick at the skin causing scarring.
Meth users tend to quit eating properly, and the body begins to consume body fat and muscle, creating a gaunt look.
The overall effect is that many meth users look like they’ve aged years in just a few months.
The term “Faces of Meth” was coined in December 2004 by a reporter in Oregon. Soon afterwards, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, located in Oregon near the Washington state line, began its famous drug prevention project.
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95 comments Add your comment
johnetta
December 5th, 2012
2:55 pm
dont do drugs…
johnetta
December 5th, 2012
2:56 pm
Enter your comments here
fes
December 5th, 2012
3:03 pm
meth is evil. like some of the ad campaigns say, ‘not even once’. it’s not worth it. it will take hold of you and not let go until there’s nothing left.
One After 909
December 5th, 2012
3:04 pm
Actually there is a website that posts before and after pictures of meth users.
Google it. There are a lot of them and they are all like this.
Why would anyone be stupid enough to do meth?
Jack Washington
December 5th, 2012
3:05 pm
Meth is one of the worst drugs ever!! The Mexican Gangs are making this stuff in Commercial Labs and flooding our cities and towns with this stuff. One hit and you’re hooked.
Roger RN
December 5th, 2012
3:05 pm
This also applies to those visiting methodone clinics
mike
December 5th, 2012
3:07 pm
No one cared what u looked like after smoking crack cause it was only blacks so now i’m supposed to feel sorry for white meth heads?
Brenda
December 5th, 2012
3:09 pm
Anything that makes you feel like its the last day of school at 3 pm is dangerous. That said, these people would have had to do a LOT of the stuff to look like that. Doing it once or twice will have zero effect.
One After 909
December 5th, 2012
3:11 pm
Here is the website of before and after pictures:
http://myfox8.com/2012/02/03/photos-faces-of-meth-before-and-after/
OTP
December 5th, 2012
3:14 pm
One would hope someone considering doing it would certainly change their mind, seeing this.
For an example of what heroin will do to you, take a look at any recent picture of Keith Richards. It literally takes the life out of someone’s face.
pw
December 5th, 2012
3:26 pm
Mike – I feel you.
Mush Mouth
December 5th, 2012
3:26 pm
Am I the only person interested in trying it once? Just to see what it is like.
Tinala
December 5th, 2012
3:29 pm
Mush Mouth, I guess you are the lone IDIOT on this one.
Atlanta Native
December 5th, 2012
3:30 pm
Don’t pull the race card Mike
Roekest
December 5th, 2012
3:38 pm
I know it sounds bad, but meth mugs were a source of hilarity….and fright in my old newsroom.
Tell you what though, when my kids are old enough, these are the pictures I will show them to keep them off of drugs.
joe
December 5th, 2012
3:38 pm
Mike, the race card is 1990 overplayed, move on to some other complaint that is relevant today…like your food stamps and other entitlements. Brenda, sounds like you speak from experience…keep it up you’ll be dead.
RAMZAD
December 5th, 2012
3:42 pm
Any drug that is a man made mix up, pound up, cook down, strain out, or filter down is just not ready for prime time. The only drug that is ready for prime time are Indica and Lamsbread Sinsemilla.
Brenda
December 5th, 2012
3:42 pm
It is really strange that more black people don’t do this drug.
Luke
December 5th, 2012
3:43 pm
Mike, don’t be absurd. Pulling the race card frivolously is like crying “Wolf!”, desensitizing people from looking deeply at the real issues.
mehlman rings twice
December 5th, 2012
3:47 pm
Meth is an example of the free market at work. For years conservative lawmakers, prosecutors, and other law enforcement officials bragged about the number of drug dealers they were responsible for sending to jail. What they didn’t consider was that those actions cut off the supply to affluent users. Well guess what – those users started making their own.
Dave
December 5th, 2012
3:47 pm
Like many things. people that take meth have this, It won’t happen to me attitude, I can control it, I know what I am doing..
RAMZAD
December 5th, 2012
3:53 pm
I don’t know how far this meth infused “glamor look done gone” sentiment will go, but truly; when inner city crack heads were showing up looking like half rotted fence posts and crack babies coming out were looking like the oil patched under a 1985 Chevy Camaro…no one was appalled….
White people may like to deny it, but no problem is a problem in America until it is a white problem. That is just the way it is, and if you believe different turn to Fox News.
justsayno
December 5th, 2012
3:53 pm
She looks demonic.
justsayno
December 5th, 2012
3:56 pm
I agree, if this were just a so called “inner city” problem, that only affected black and brown people, no one would have said a peep. Sad but true.
Robin P
December 5th, 2012
3:58 pm
If the people understood the ingredients used to whipped up these drugs. That enough, should be a deterent. Unfortunantly, when your soul has been compromised, you are Lost. But, there is HOPE, if you believe and really want to: Give it up, Turn it loose and Surrender, and Restoration will bring you through.
Jacket1985
December 5th, 2012
4:10 pm
I am in the banking business and I have seen both consumer and commercial customers who got hooked on meth. Within six months a meth addict will lose everything they have: their house, their business, their family. I’ve seen enough of it to know. Six months is all it takes.
So sad.
Dumb Idiots
December 5th, 2012
4:20 pm
Stupid meth heads. What a waste of air.
Fred ™
December 5th, 2012
4:33 pm
This is just another attempt to scare the human race in to conforming to other’s ideals. I’ve done meth before. Never became addicted. Alcohol is far worse and it is legal.
Those of you who fall for this get what you deserve.
I think you are either a liar or a crank dealer because no one who has done meth is stupid enough to type what you just typed. Not even a Republican talk radio listening Rushbot, and we know how they love their drug addicts like the meth ho Ayn Rand and Mr. go deaf doing Oxy Rush…………
Andy
December 5th, 2012
4:34 pm
Lets not forget the millions of moms nationwide who use their kids Ritalin as their own meth habit in order to fit into their skinny jeans.
Fred ™
December 5th, 2012
4:39 pm
Whew Andy, thank God I don’t have to worry about that. My kid doesn’t take ritalin, but is she did it STILL wouldn’t matter as my wife never did have any “skinny” jeans lol.
Walter White
December 5th, 2012
4:44 pm
I wouldnt say Meth is all bad. I am actually doing quite well. Well there was this one problem where I ended up killing a few people poisoning a baby, but it really wasnt that big a deal.
Andy
December 5th, 2012
4:46 pm
What a solid argument: The same states that give safe harbor and money to illegal aliens think pot should be legal as well.
Well good for them.
USMC
December 5th, 2012
4:51 pm
“No one cared what u looked like after smoking crack cause it was only blacks so now i’m supposed to feel sorry for white meth heads?”–Mike
Only a Racist like Mike who lives so far down the intelligence chain to come up with a foolish and bigoted statement like the one above. Get over your hate for white people, Mike. Some of them are my best friends and they are pretty nice people.
fes
December 5th, 2012
4:52 pm
“This is just another attempt to scare the human race in to conforming to others ideals. I’ve done meth before. Never became addicted. Alcohol is far worse and it is legal.
Those of you who fall for this get what you deserve.”
You sir, are an idiot and/or a liar. One taste and it can and will suck you in. I lost a year and a half of my life to it. These days, I’m thankful that I didn’t lose more than that. Alcohol is the gateway to all sorts of other experimentation, but meth is far worse.
BonQuiQui
December 5th, 2012
5:09 pm
If you want a frightening look @ what alcohol and drug addiction does to normal, everyday people young and not so young watch a couple of episodes of “Intervention” on A&E. The impact on their families is the worst part.
Reality Check
December 5th, 2012
5:19 pm
Until our society chooses to “make the punishment fit the crime” for the manufacturers and dealers of these drugs (herion & meth in particular), this will continue to happen.
When caught, the dealer and the manufacturer get off light compared to the damage inflicted …. the lives destroyed … in pursuit of money..
We should follow the example of China and other countries where drug dealing is not tolerated and is very harshly punished … deal drugs in China .. and bye bye
Pablo Escobar
December 5th, 2012
5:40 pm
This is ruining our society, it’s an epidemic. It is the root cause of the majority of crimes, at least in the town where I live. It’s out of control and will never get any better until the laws are tougher and the so-called judges take their panties off and quit being buddies and politicians. Actually, preventing the manufacturing,distribution and consumption of this junk would be considered a form of gun control.
Chris
December 5th, 2012
5:44 pm
So Mike is saying white people only react and create anti-meth campaigns because they see mostly white people destroying their lives with meth, right? But white people didn’t do the same in response to seeing mostly black people destroying their lives with crack cocaine?
If there were no anti-crack campaigns, then that means nobody, black nor white, created them. Doesn’t that make black people just as guilty as white people for turning their backs on the crack epidemic? And what about popular rappers like Jeezy and Lil Wayne who glorify manufacturing and selling crack in their music? They’re doing even worse than turning their backs on the problem. They’re encouraging the lifestyle. How about we put some of the blame on them. And on the dealers.
Get off the “white devil’s” back and take a share of the responsibility.
Pablo Escobar
December 5th, 2012
6:22 pm
C’mon everybody. Drugs are not a racial issue.They are an American issue, they are a State issue and they are all of OUR local issues. I am a white male who has been around thousands of people through my work over many years and I can tell you this.Yes, I have seen black people into drugs. I’ve also seen white people into drugs.If there are green and purple people I’ve probably dealt with them too. Bottom line is the same people continue to suffer because of these tards and that’s their family and children,plus all of the other innocent victims….Also, If some rotten-toothed white guy kills me over $5 or a piece of scrap metal, I’d be just as dead as if a black junkie killed me for my car. (By the way green-teeth,I’m always watching)
Mike you are a FOOL
December 5th, 2012
6:36 pm
Mike —– What the hell does race nave to do with this you my friend are a stupid pig>>>>>>>
Mike you are a FOOL
December 5th, 2012
6:38 pm
Fes you are an idiot also.. Smile for the camera LOL
Mike you are a FOOL
December 5th, 2012
6:40 pm
WHAT THE F__K does race have to do with this??? NOT A DAMM THING.. Get over the Black White issue and lets fix the problem.. RACE BAITING JUST MAKES IT WORSE.. HOW stupid are the people?????
Pablo Escobar
December 5th, 2012
6:57 pm
Oh, by the way. I know this is about meth, but why do we have people risking and losing their lives trying to prevent drugs coming across the border when we have some states legalizing marijuana ? I’m not saying I’m for or against it. I’m asking how can we arrest a smuggler for bringing something over here that’s legal in certain places. This is one jacked up place and I only hope and wish that the sissies and politicians that caused it pay for it.
Beano
December 5th, 2012
7:03 pm
after looking at these ads, I’ve decided not to do meth. What drugs should I do instead?
Vashtai
December 5th, 2012
7:07 pm
I’ve always been one to experiment with drugs, mostly pot. In the mid 80s there was a documentary about the new crack epidemic. They showed this haggard looking young man. Then they showed a pic of his high school Sr. pic and he was beautiful. He was then 21. They asked him when he knew he was hooked on crack. He replied, “when I exhaled the first time.” That scared the crap out of me. Same with meth.
Sally
December 5th, 2012
7:10 pm
Very, very, very sad.
Rod
December 5th, 2012
7:12 pm
She looks like that guy on Tales from the Crypt you can smoke weed everyday heavy and you wont look like that good grief!
RAMZAD
December 5th, 2012
7:25 pm
White folks do not want to hear about race when it is not convenient of comfortable for them.
That is quite disingenuous. You can’t call other folks racists when they make an observation that gives you a moral fever. Take your “Tylenol.” Learn about your weaker dispositions and go forward better for having found the guts to do so.
It is a fact that when 1980 came and we started to see black crackhead looking like stick ghosts with the eyes of a dead fish and when we started seeing the heartbreak that was a- predominantly black crack baby. It was not news.
White people did not take a stand for these fellow Americans. They went into gated communities and bought guns, and secluded themselves like they always do from “minority threats.”
Social problems are only important in America when one of two things happen.
1. They cost white people money.
2. White people are the victims.
Now, if you want to call this observation racist that makes you a liar or stupid or both.
hit a single
December 5th, 2012
7:31 pm
It is sad but people are just sorry. We can blame Drugs all we want. Drug dealers deal for the money. Drugusers care about being high and that is it. You are going to see more because we are not teaching responsiblity anymore in the family, schools and definitely our government. Presidnt Obama and all this free assistance programs are a big part of the problem. People have way too much free time. So don’t blame drugs only blame our sorry ass society.
hit a single
December 5th, 2012
7:32 pm
Also this is our new society thanks too all these liberals.
Trey
December 5th, 2012
7:33 pm
Sucks to be her.
John Q. Public
December 5th, 2012
7:40 pm
She looks like she has been to HELL and back. Like a walking corpse.
Dirtydawg
December 5th, 2012
8:10 pm
See this …. Marijuana does not doe this to you…. Legalize!
woodrow
December 5th, 2012
8:13 pm
Marijuana has long term negative effects too. We get to see that in CO and WA before long.
Trey
December 5th, 2012
8:16 pm
Dirtydawg, correct about marijuana not doing this, but there are adverse effects from marijuana. Remember, you are still taking smoke into your lungs. It has more carcinogens than cigarettes, but no filter.
DC
December 5th, 2012
8:20 pm
These people look like they just came out of Dachau or Auschwitz in 1945! It’s that bad!
Clayton Bigsby
December 5th, 2012
8:25 pm
Echoing Mike and the others – I documented the campaign on crack and the message was not to rehabilitate but to annihilate. Now that its meth, the message is “Save Our Children”.
Craig
December 5th, 2012
8:34 pm
Dear God,
Please not my children. Ever. Please may the kids in these pictures, or those using drugs find you love and strength and find the right way. Additionally, please ease the hearts of the parents of these children. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
NATL
December 5th, 2012
8:36 pm
Beyond the obvious sadness of how these people have deteriorated due to their drug use, I also find the fact that these photos were taken as mugshots. Do these people really belong in jail?? Wouldn’t they all be better off in mandatory treatment facilities?
LydiasDad
December 5th, 2012
8:43 pm
And if you think meth is bad, check out Krokodil, which is killing Russia. http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/seriously-dont-use-krokodil
LydiasDad
December 5th, 2012
8:44 pm
NATL, you’re not allowed to force people into treatment. The ACLU would have a fit since it takes away their rights. The ACLU would shut down all prisons if they could. Besides, who’s going to pay for it? Not me.
Mr. Makey
December 5th, 2012
8:46 pm
Drugs are bad, m’kay!
Geoff
December 5th, 2012
8:49 pm
Brenda, Are you serious? You CANNOT do this drug once or twice?! 99 % of the people that do this drug end up doing it ALL day, EVERY day. It’s all they live for?! They don’t even care about eating?! They leave their families, they give away their kids for Christ’s sake?! And, the worse part is, THERE IS NO CURE! There is no rehab for it, no replacement drug, no step-down method, it’s cold turkey baby, or die.
po-mane
December 5th, 2012
8:51 pm
Didn’t she play on The Walking Dead??
David
December 5th, 2012
8:53 pm
it is sad, people were dumb enough to vote for Obama, they are dumb enough to to meth.
cruzin
December 5th, 2012
8:58 pm
Hmm. meth makes you look like a walker from the Walking Dead TV show.
I'm Rick James Witch
December 5th, 2012
8:59 pm
Nothing will ever be done because our system and society are too far gone to turn back.The bald-headed justices are more worried about other things.
Greg Camp
December 5th, 2012
9:09 pm
Meth or crack, both highly addictive and cheap drugs that destroy the user’s life. Race and age are not issues with either. Both need to be erraticated.
checkcall
December 5th, 2012
9:14 pm
What is the definition of “caring” about a drug problem? If people didnt care about black people during the crack epidemic, how are they caring about white people during the meth epidemic?
checkcall
December 5th, 2012
9:16 pm
Lylia people can choose between treatment and jail in a lot of states today. I believe that depending on the person, jail is a necessary step in helping an addict hit bottom.
Jimbo
December 5th, 2012
9:28 pm
It is a great way to lose weight though and it will make you work harder than you ever have. A lot of people use meth to drop weight and party and never get hooked like the faces pictures.
Go Daddy
December 5th, 2012
9:41 pm
Got dam the pusher.
Cloudodust
December 5th, 2012
9:45 pm
Jimbo – Medicinal meth. Right. Sad you reference ‘a lot of people’ think snorting trash is a great diet. Tell them to quit stuffing their pie-holes and exercise. Meth is a garbage concoction, end of story.
and i thought
December 5th, 2012
9:45 pm
using coke was bad in the 80’s! wow, that was nothing to this $ h!t.
Thomas
December 5th, 2012
9:55 pm
snow was clean/coca plants,natural….This stuff is 100% complete GARBAGE! No comprison dude. They both can kill you, But you can’t compare the two.
Jimbo
December 5th, 2012
9:57 pm
Cloudodust, try meth and exercise, the weight drops very fast and you can keep going for hours and are not even a bit hungry afterwords. Dont knock it till you have done the meth exercise diet.
Keke
December 5th, 2012
10:25 pm
I was born addicted to Meth. I am 15 now. Wehn I was born I was placed in a foster home because of my addiction., but I am adopted now. I am now living a GREAT life and doing good. For this I am grateful and thankful. Dont do Drugs! My biological mom’s life is totally destoyed, and there are 6 of us all in different homes.
Drake
December 5th, 2012
10:48 pm
legalize weed, a non-dangerous, recreational drug. The prices will fall and more people will smoke weed and stop doing dangerous drugs like crack, meth and heroin—the government just doesn’t get it.
marc g
December 6th, 2012
12:22 am
Really,
you took this girl from age 32 to 34.
What about the years before…
It has to do lot more than simple drug use…
What’s the reason behind what’s she’s doing?
C.M. Thornton, III
December 6th, 2012
12:27 am
It all started with a little marijuana…
Shari
December 6th, 2012
2:08 am
Mike has a point. No race card pulled. Didn’t hear the urgency with crack, like you do with meth. Now I have to show ID to get cold and allergy medicine. WTH? Used to work in drugstore in the 80’s and these biker looking guys would come in and darn near clear the shelf of allergy meds. Asked the pharmacist why they need so much medicine and he told me they make meth with it. How much further will it go? Idiiots abuse prescription narcotics so much, people who really need them have to jump through hoops to the Rx filled.
By the way I don’t get food stamps, entitlements, free gifts etc.
Amsterdam
December 6th, 2012
3:29 am
We need to see some before and after liver pictures of alcoholics………But wait….alcohol is legal but Marijuana isn’t….
dcstan
December 6th, 2012
6:29 am
hey Mike contrary to popular believe there are and were a lot of white folks chasing the ghost also. Crack was made out to be a black drug. but those that know don’t say, those who say don’t know
dcstan
December 6th, 2012
6:43 am
I believe the guy Ramzad said it best on an earlier post. things in this country is really not a problem until it effects the White Population. You folks can rant and rave all you want. It is not an attack it is a fact. The same vitrioil that came with crack is not the same with this Meth. you can deny all you want but it is true. Lawmakers went out of their way to pass laws to lock up anyone associated with crack. With Meth you can hear the crickets chirping from the silence because it have landed right on top of your community. The silence is deafening. I truly understand where Mike is coming from
Andy
December 6th, 2012
6:43 am
When are we going to admit the war on drugs is a dog and pony show that at best only stops 1% of the illegal drug flow and its sole purpose is to make government bigger?
Andy
December 6th, 2012
6:50 am
Unlike crack in the 80’s, which hit as a huge nationwide wave, meth isn’t wiping out entire neighborhoods and housing projects. It’s a hit or miss problem just like painkiller abuse. Truth be know, pain killer abuse is probably 10 times the problem meth is right now.
Also, if you follow the meth problem/epidemic, it started in California with the bikers, worked its way up the West coast and then headed East across the country over the course of 20 years. It hits an area, peaks then moves on.
Thomas
December 6th, 2012
6:52 am
Andy
December 6th, 2012
6:43 am
Andy= A+
Really????
December 6th, 2012
7:51 am
I am really, really sick and tired of people trying to pull the race card. My sister, GOD rest her soul, was addicted to crack. She also did many other drugs to try and kill the pain she had on the inside. The last six months of her life was spent trying to battle brain cancer. She told me she fought the urge of doing crack EVERYDAY of her life even when she was going through radiation and chemo. She was WHITE, NO ONE except us, her family, did everything we could to save her from that life. It is not a race issue but a class status issue. If you are RICH you can receive all the help in the world no matter what color you are. As long as a person is perceived to be on welfare or has no type of insurance that person will not receive the proper care or help needed to fight this problem and get them clean.
The only color that matters is GREEN. Money has always been and always be the only factor that matters. As long as a person has money the color of his or her skin does not matter.
My Name is Mike...and I'm a dirtbag
December 6th, 2012
7:51 am
Mike, Way to represent the human race there, bigot. What are you doing, as a so called black man, to help the crack addicts out there? Let me guess, not a damn thing. Blame Whitey! Let’s not take responsibility for our OWN actions…just blame Whitey. You are a prick, a dirtbag, and piece of scum.
Meth is a problem…a very bad one. Oh, sure, only white ppl are doing it. Not one single black, hispanic, asian, or other race is doing it…
Rhonda Wilson
December 6th, 2012
8:26 am
My brother was a meth addict. Did you pick up on the WAS? He took his own life 6 months ago. This drug is tearing families apart it doesn’t make a difference what color you are. If you have a family member on it, please, please try and get them help. The pain is horrible when you lose a family member to this drug.
scorpianking
December 6th, 2012
9:02 am
@jack Washington..Mexican gangs? try bubba out in the hicks in their trailor parks, or local suburb around atlanta. Don’t blame Meth on the mexicans…im just saying
Andy
December 6th, 2012
9:13 am
Actually, nowadays you need to blame a lot of the meth/ice problem on the Mexican cartels due to the lack of access of pseudoephedrine in any quantity.
Sure the average hillbilly can get a box, maybe two, from the local pharmacy, but he’s not getting enough to become a dealer. Mexican cartels on the other hand are importing container loads of pseudoephedrine at a time into Mexico.
veronica
December 6th, 2012
9:11 pm
I used meth for 7 yrs-after about 2 years I was looking pretty bad. Aged,sores etc.
I have not used in 2 1/2 years and never will again.
The good news is that I look my age now,my face is healthy looking except for the scarring.
METH IS DEATH-spiritually and physically it rips the life from a person.
Quickly or slowly it will happen. Not worth that chance.
Cherry
December 7th, 2012
8:12 pm
“Remember when Marijuana was supposed to make you psychotic?
They are not giving the complete background on these people either. Who knows what else they are afflicted with, or addicted to.
This is just another attempt to scare the human race in to conforming to other’s ideals. I’ve done meth before. Never became addicted. Alcohol is far worse and it is legal.
Those of you who fall for this get what you deserve.”
While pot is in a different class to Meth, pot DOES cause psychosis in some people. Oh and how do I know?
I know someone who is now permanently schizophrenic from pot. On a treatment management plan. Regular injections of anti-psychotics from a local hospital. No job, share house with other mentally ill people, will stay on those for the rest of her life, it seems. She’s from a bright family of go-getters, so many in her family are successful.
Either you’re in denial or a liar.
White-Right
December 8th, 2012
6:04 am
I never had a problem with Meth,Only problem I had was I was always running out,Sex is great on Meth too!!OMG