THESE shocking before and after images reveal in stark and simple terms the cost drug addiction takes on the human face. The harrowing images are featured in the controversial film 'From Drugs to Mugs' - the follow up to the 2004 'Faces of Meth' project which highlighted the effects of methamphetamine use. The pictures, which show how addicts have lost teeth and scratched their skin to the bone, were released in the hope that they will make kids think twice about ever touching drugs. New photographs show the first arrest of a drug user partnered up with a picture taken in some cases only three months later.
US cops at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office in the state of Oregon put together the collection, which features users of all hard drugs including cocaine, heroin and meth. Deputy Bret King, 45, who was instrumental in putting together the original Faces of Meth project in 2004, said: "Faces of Meths went round the world, it captured people's revulsion and imagination. As I was putting together the project and touring the country trying to highlight the effects of meth on people, I had a nagging feeling that I knew I wasn't bringing the whole picture to people's attention. Every single person I booked and interviewed who was not just a meth addict but a heroin user or a coke-head had started on some seemingly innocent drug like alcohol or cannabis. Everyone experiments at college or school and I want From Drugs to Mugs to show kids that everyone in those pictures started on cannabis, they didn't just dive head first into heroin. So I ask the students at schools to look at these people and think about their actions, otherwise that could end up being you."
Faced with an endemic drug problem in the north west of the United States, the Multnomah Sheriff's Office has also produced a heart-wrenching educational documentary to aid in its fight against young people turning to drugs. Deputy King added: "I want to be able to illustrate the connection between that first decision to use drugs and then down the road when it's a horrible mess."
By far the starkest images that deputy King and his team produce are the mug shots of drug users at the time of their first arrest and their resulting physical deterioration. One drug user interviewed in prison for Drugs to Mugs, said: "I don't own a house, I don't own an apartment, I don't have a banking account, I have zero money, I don't have nothing to show from my time on earth. Drugs and alcohol has led to me having nothing today."
Perhaps the most heart-wrenching portion of the new video is an interview with Washington County Judge Tom Kohl, whose daughter Meghan, a meth user, was murdered in 2006 at age 21 in connection with her drug habit. Through teary eyes, Kohl recalls Meghan's happy childhood, as well as the night when police officers arrived at his door to tell him his daughter was dead. It is King's hope that the video will show teens how easy it is to fall into drug habits. Another resigned drug user explained from inside his prison cell: "I miss watching the sun come up, I miss the normal stuff. I missed out on a normal life and I know that."
US cops at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office in the state of Oregon put together the collection, which features users of all hard drugs including cocaine, heroin and meth. Deputy Bret King, 45, who was instrumental in putting together the original Faces of Meth project in 2004, said: "Faces of Meths went round the world, it captured people's revulsion and imagination. As I was putting together the project and touring the country trying to highlight the effects of meth on people, I had a nagging feeling that I knew I wasn't bringing the whole picture to people's attention. Every single person I booked and interviewed who was not just a meth addict but a heroin user or a coke-head had started on some seemingly innocent drug like alcohol or cannabis. Everyone experiments at college or school and I want From Drugs to Mugs to show kids that everyone in those pictures started on cannabis, they didn't just dive head first into heroin. So I ask the students at schools to look at these people and think about their actions, otherwise that could end up being you."
Faced with an endemic drug problem in the north west of the United States, the Multnomah Sheriff's Office has also produced a heart-wrenching educational documentary to aid in its fight against young people turning to drugs. Deputy King added: "I want to be able to illustrate the connection between that first decision to use drugs and then down the road when it's a horrible mess."
By far the starkest images that deputy King and his team produce are the mug shots of drug users at the time of their first arrest and their resulting physical deterioration. One drug user interviewed in prison for Drugs to Mugs, said: "I don't own a house, I don't own an apartment, I don't have a banking account, I have zero money, I don't have nothing to show from my time on earth. Drugs and alcohol has led to me having nothing today."
Perhaps the most heart-wrenching portion of the new video is an interview with Washington County Judge Tom Kohl, whose daughter Meghan, a meth user, was murdered in 2006 at age 21 in connection with her drug habit. Through teary eyes, Kohl recalls Meghan's happy childhood, as well as the night when police officers arrived at his door to tell him his daughter was dead. It is King's hope that the video will show teens how easy it is to fall into drug habits. Another resigned drug user explained from inside his prison cell: "I miss watching the sun come up, I miss the normal stuff. I missed out on a normal life and I know that."
