David_EH

David_EH

1p

1 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

15 years ago @ Intelligent Discontent - The Gazette’s Em... · 0 replies · +2 points

I am obviously biased, being the author of the study in question, but the Billings Gazette story is pretty breathtaking in regards to its ignorance. If McKee had actually read my paper, she would not be making statements such as...

"From 2003 until 2005, teen meth use dropped 11 percent. After the project began running ads, meth use dropped by an additional 45 percent in three years. Those statistics came from the project's own research."

... because the Meth Project's own research shows that meth use has INCREASED over this period - as is clearly pointed out in my paper.

The "45%" drop she reports is from another study - the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey - and is a misleading figure.

According to this study, meth use dropped from 8.3% to 4.6% between 2005 and 2007. That's a RELATIVE decrease of 45%, but an absolute decrease of only 3.7%.

In comparison, there was an absolute decrease in meth use of 3.3% between 2001 and 2003, before the launch of the campaign.

This suggests that factors other than the ads are causing drops in meth use.

The "amazing drops in meth use" Peg Shea and McKee talk about in the article aren't backed by their own data - which was the point of my study - to show that many of the claims the Meth Project have been making are misleading, and in some cases are directly contradicted by their own data.