Here’s What Some Iowa 8th Graders Think Of “Meth. We’re On It.”

Almost immediately after South Dakota launched the “Meth. We're On It.” campaign it started getting buzz all around the nation. Some good. Some bad. Some confused.

The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, was quick to try and refocus the attention of the anti-drug campaign to its intentioned purpose of fighting the meth epidemic in the state.

Recently a middle school teacher in Waukon, Iowa used South Dakota's well-publicized meth message to spark conversation with his Honors English students. Mr. Ben Lange teaches grade 8 English at Waukon middle-school in northeastern Iowa.

Mr. Lange stated: “Although meth use is declining in northeast Iowa, it remains an issue.” Mr. Lange played some of South Dakota's “Meth. We're On It.” ads and a CBS news story for some of his students. He then had the 8th graders react on a digital discussion to what they had seen and heard. Here are some of those responses:

• "I thought that this video was trying to tell us not to do drugs like South Dakota."
• "South Dakota says that the slogan is doing its job and is being used well, but I think the state needs to see through its own opinions and fix the joke they've made of themselves. "
• "Try this: Teen alcohol use; get drunk with prevention."
• "They didn't say anywhere in the actual campaign that they were trying to get people off of meth. "
• "They chose a good subject considering the fact that it seemed they, everyone in South Dakota was using it."
• "I don't think that using the slogan "Meth. We're on it" is a good way at getting at that goal because it just seems like a joke."
• "This was a big investment for the state of South Dakota, but I feel like it was a waste of money. You can tell that South Dakota tried to have a good slogan, but it did not work. "
• "I would like to know why they used a 9 year old girl in the video. It is very confusing."
• " Personally, I like how they put humor into this. I think it is nice because not only do adults understand it but so do us kids. I think it's a great way to make kids understand how bad meth is because we find it funny. "
• "People won't take this seriously."
• "I don't think it will decrease the amount of meth users but it was funny. "