The San Juan Bautista residents who earlier this year made a
documentary aimed keeping underage people from drinking and driving
are now focusing their cameras on the dangers of
methamphetamine.
Hollister – The San Juan Bautista residents who earlier this year made a documentary aimed keeping underage people from drinking and driving are now focusing their cameras on the dangers of methamphetamine.
The new film will also be aimed at a young audience and will include interviews with former meth users, the families of people who are still on the drug, and local law enforcement officers.
“(Meth is) affecting our small community. It’s overloaded our jail system. Kids think it’s a social drug, and they end up getting hooked,” said Jennifer Roybal-Marquez of Salinas-based SealRock Marketing. She is producing the documentary with her partner, Keith Medlin.
Roybal-Marquez and Medlin started working on the film in July. With more funding they hope to finish the film by the end of the year.
Meth is a highly addictive stimulant that can be inhaled, snorted, or injected. It’s a “huge problem” in San Benito County that cuts through all socio-economic lines, according to Sheriff Curtis Hill, who hopes the documentary will deter people from trying the drug by showing its dangers and consequences.
“We need to not only focus on enforcement of methamphetamine laws,” Hill said. “We need to maintain a real solid attempt at the community level … that’s what the project Jennifer and Keith are working on now is hopefully going to help us with.”
Cooked in secret labs using a combination of toxic chemicals and over-the-counter medications, methamphetamine can cause heart attacks, strokes and psychotic behavior, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Manufacture of the drug is also harmful for the environment because its toxic byproducts are not properly disposed of.
The children of meth users are also affected by exposure and often must be put into protective care when their drug-abusing parents are arrested, according to Hill.
“It’s a criminal problem, it’s a social problem and it’s an environmental problem,” he said.
This is the second documentary for Roybal-Marquez and Medlin. Recently they completed a film that warns of the consequences of drinking and driving. They hope that film will soon be seen by every high school junior and senior in the county.
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@***********ws.com
