The state of California has distributed thousands of copies of a book warning against the dangers of involvement in the methamphetamine trade to immigrant laborers from Mexico, the Associated Press reported Nov. 24.

The "fotonovela" -- a small picture book popular in Mexico -- tells the sad tale of Jose, a farmworker who gets in trouble when he works for a drug gang. In the end, his wife and daughter die from exposure to toxic chemicals used to make meth.

The book is entitled "It's Not Worth It," and it also has inspired a Spanish-language film.

"We were trying to get that message across to a population that has a very low literacy level and that's really isolated," said PR expert Virginia Madueno, who created the book. Other border states have subsequently requested copies of the fotonovela.

More than 15,000 copies of the book have been printed; the movie -- patterned after Mexican soap operas -- was produced by Merced College and financed with a $100,000 federal grant.