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Meth Free LA County

Also: No Cristal Condado LA · Meth Free L.A. County · Behind the Face · Turn On the Light

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health campaign against methamphetamine use, launched 2 March 2020 (developed with Sentient Research and Fraser Communications) and relaunched July to November 2021 by Rescue Agency. It avoids the fear-based look of earlier anti-meth ads: English and Spanish TV, radio, billboard, transit and social ads show that meth is used in every neighborhood and does damage you cannot see, and point to harm reduction, treatment and the county's Substance Abuse Service Helpline (1-844-804-7500).

Years
2020
Reach
70M impressions as reported
“the 2023 paper reports nearly 70 million impressions in 16 weeks (sponsor-side figures).”
Country
United States
Topic
Drugs
Asks people to
Never startSeek helpStop
Strategy
Service linkStigma reduction
Channel
HotlineOutdoorRadioSocial (paid)TVWebsite
Audience
AdultsYoung adults
Los Angeles County residents aged about 18-54 in population segments at higher risk of meth use, people who use meth, and their friends and family; English and Spanish.

Evidence

ObservationalPositive

2020 wave: post-campaign online survey of 1,873 higher-risk residents; exposure was associated with more negative attitudes toward meth, calling the county helpline, fewer days of meth use and considering abstaining, with a dose effect for helpline calls (Neffa-Creech 2022, cross-sectional, no comparison group). 2021 relaunch: convenience survey of 750 residents; 84.1% recalled the campaign and 84.0% said it made them feel help is available; greater recall was associated with taking promoted actions such as seeking help (Stalgaitis 2023, authors from Rescue Agency, which made the campaign). Rescue Agency's own case study adds that campaign-aware respondents were more concerned about meth in their community (74.1% vs 51.7%) and that any exposure was linked to being 5 times as likely to have helped someone get help; the 2023 paper reports nearly 70 million impressions in 16 weeks (sponsor-side figures).

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Neffa-Creech D, Plant A, Montoya JA et al. Development and evaluation of a social marketing campaign to address methamphetamine use in Los Angeles County. BMC Public Health 2022 evaluation · 2022 · DOI 10.1186/s12889-022-14180-y · PMID 36138397
  2. Stalgaitis CA, Jordan JW, Tate B et al. There is hope and help: Reach and reception of a methamphetamine education campaign in Los Angeles County, California. Prev Med Rep 2023 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102518 · PMID 38116271
  3. Meth Free LA County case study (Rescue Agency) sponsor · 2023
  4. L.A. County Department of Public Health launches meth awareness campaign (City News Service via KFI AM 640, 2 Mar 2020) news · 2020
  5. Meth Free LA County (campaign site, LA County DPH SAPC) sponsor
  6. Behind the Face: communications toolkit (LA County DPH SAPC, Meth Free LA County) sponsor
  7. Turn On the Light: communications toolkit (LA County DPH SAPC, Meth Free LA County) sponsor

Research notes

US-CA (Los Angeles County). Drafted by Claude (Claude Code) on 2026-10-28 for #130 from the two PubMed abstracts, the campaign site and the YouTube channel listed; unreviewed, including the cardSummary. Credits come from author affiliations (Fraser Communications and Sentient Research on the 2020 paper; Rescue Agency on the 2021 relaunch paper), so the exact split of creative work is a reading of affiliations, not a credit page. Both evaluations are cross-sectional post-campaign surveys without a comparison group, and the 2023 paper is by the agency that made the campaign; 'positive' is the authors' reading of exposure associations, not a causal estimate. Channels from the 2020 launch report (local airwaves, social media, billboards) and the Rescue Agency case study (2021: billboards in high-risk ZIP codes, transit shelters and benches, English and Spanish radio with DJ endorsements, late-hours TV, Facebook and Instagram video). Full texts of the papers not read. Budget, end year and funding source not found; the site footer says 2021. Check the percentages (84.1%, 84.0%) against the paper before using them in copy. Check the 74.1% vs 51.7%, 5x and 70 million figures against the paper before reuse. The county publishes partner toolkits for two creative lines, 'Behind the Face' (videos in English and Spanish, social and out-of-home samples) and 'Turn On the Light' (video and social samples); their run dates are not stated, so they are kept in this one case.

Record cases/la-county-meth-free-la-county.json, updated 2026-10-28· Link to this campaign