Bartow, FL -   Jeff Bates, country music star of Top 20 hit CDs Rainbow Man and Leave the Light On, teams up with the Florida chapter of Mothers Against Meth Amphetamine – more commonly known as Florida MAMAs – in their new televised Public Service Announcements (PSAs) against methamphetamine. The Meth Destroys: The High is a Lie awareness campaign aims to warn the public about the dangers of even one-time use of methamphetamine – the most addictive substance known to mankind.

After moving to Nashville to pursue his dream of a music career, Jeff Bates was arrested on March 14, 2001, for theft to feed his then-year-and-a-half addiction to meth. After enduring the agonizing withdrawal, he acknowledges prayer and an in-jail rehabilitation twelve step program with turning his life around. Now over six years clean and sober, Bates is featured in two thirty-second, Florida MAMA’s television Public Service Announcements that will broadcast the Meth Destroys: The High is a Lie message to the public. One of them includes Leland Family Ministries founder Libbie Combee’s son, Jason Leland, who also was incarcerated for property crimes to support his meth habit. Leland Family Ministries is the sponsor of Florida MAMAs, which leads the fight against methamphetamine with public prevention campaigns, corrections intervention programs and faith-based, twelve step recovery groups in Polk County, Florida.

In Bates’ country single "One Second Chance," the singer tells the story of an ex-con who struggles to find forgiveness after surviving his harrowing methamphetamine addiction and a prison sentence. The drug overwhelmed him immediately after the first hit. This powerful substance referred to as meth, ice, crank, crystal, speed, and glass is a man-made stimulant that is cheap to manufacture, highly toxic and produces a high that can last anywhere from 6 to 14 hours. "I don't want to see anyone get tangled up with meth," Jeff says. "And if they do, I want them to know there's hope. I know, because I've been there.” “My life today is great," he says. "I share my story in the form of  the song `One Second Chance' because it's worth it to me to lay it all out on the line if it helps one person not to use methamphetamine. Because addiction is a trap. It's like a cage, you can't get out. You don't believe there's any way out. I don't feel trapped anymore." Jeff supports Florida MAMAs in their fight against methamphetamine, because he knows first hand that Meth Destroys: The High is a Lie.

Florida MAMAs would like to thank Brighthouse Networks for the production of the PSAs.  Without their contribution, these PSAs would not have been possible.  We are grateful for their efforts to help in the fight against Meth.