CARSON CITY -- Don't think you can stop methamphetamine use through one-time assemblies, scare tactics and short education programs, a state official said Thursday.

Glossy advertising campaigns can backfire and induce more people to use drugs, said Maria Canfield, director of the Nevada Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency. Even the National Office of Drug Control Policy created an ad that prompted more drug use, she said.

"Some kids felt more comfortable using the drug," Canfield said. "The message is we have to be careful."

Canfield was one of the people who offered suggestions at the initial meeting of the Governor's Working Group on Methamphetamine Use.

The group, chaired by state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, has been charged by Gov. Jim Gibbons to develop by April 1 recommendations for the reduction of meth use.

A study found that Nevada ranked No. 1 nationally in use of the drug, with 2 percent of its population over age 12 having used meth at least once.

Users find meth several times more pleasurable than a sexual orgasm, Oregon anti-meth advocate Rob Bovett told legislators last month.

Gibbons has requested that the Legislature spend $17 million for a war on meth. But the working group learned Thursday that $5 million of the money would replace an ending federal program currently funding substance abuse treatment.

Canfield said treatment works in varying degrees for 90 percent of meth addicts. Her agency funds dozens of treatment programs.

But treatment does not always work the first time, and Canfield cautioned against punishing those who fail. The average age of addicts in a treatment program in Nevada is 30. Many are pregnant women.

"We need to help them with jobs, health care, getting their teeth fixed," she said.

Michael Flanagan, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, spoke of his agency's effort to reduce the availability of meth, particularly in persuading Mexico to reduce its importation of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient of the drug.

Mexico reduced its importation of pseudoephedrine last year to 64 tons, down from 224 tons in 2004. The drug is produced only in eight factories in China, India and Germany.

The reduction is important because the DEA has found that most of the meth coming into Nevada was produced in illegal labs in Mexico.

Legislators are considering 11 anti-meth bills, including one that would prohibit use of pseudoephedrine without a doctor's prescription.

The drug is an ingredient in Sudafed, which under federal law must be kept behind a pharmacist's counter. People are required to sign their names when they purchase the drug.

"From what I am hearing from pharmacists is that having it behind the counter is not working," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, a member of the anti-meth working group. "They see the same people time after time."

Leslie said new products have been developed that some people find as effective as Sudafed. The Reno Democrat chairs the Assembly Health and Human Resources Committee that will hold hearings March 19 on anti-meth bills.

Cortez Masto authored one of those bills. Her proposal would mirror federal law and require pharmacists to keep Sudafed-type products behind counters and to track purchasers. She contended it is necessary to have a state law so that local district attorney officers can prosecute meth abusers.

"Federal law changes, and we might want something more restrictive," she added. "If we have it on the books, it will be there for them to follow."

But Cortez Masto is undecided on whether to require prescriptions for Sudafed.

"I understand the arguments on both sides," she said. "I have allergies. I like to go and get it without a prescription, but I want to hear the arguments."

The working group will meet again March 15.

Each of the 16 members choose a meth topic -- prevention and education, law enforcement, current legislation and treatment -- on which they will make reports.