Pubdate: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT) Copyright: 2000 The Billings Gazette Contact: P.O. Box 36300, Billings, MT 59101-6300 Fax: 406-657-1208 Website: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Author: PAT BELLINGHAUSEN Of The Gazette Staff U.S. DRUG CZAR WILL VISIT STATE The methamphetamine epidemic infecting Montana and other Western states will bring the nation's top drug control official to Billings this week. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, appointed by President Clinton to head of the Office of National Drug Policy Control, has scheduled a visit that will include a public "town hall" forum on the meth problem at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Lincoln Education Center auditorium on Fourth Avenue North. The methamphetamine problem has plagued Montana for several years and the situation isn't improving, according to health care and law enforcement professionals who regularly confront the suffering and crime caused by this highly addictive, illegal drug. "Montana reflects the problem," Kate Malliarakis, a McCaffrey aide, said from Washington. She said it is hard to quantify the methamphetamine problem, but the drug has hit rural areas where it tends to flourish for a time before it is detected. The problem has long been known in Billings and the surrounding region. Yet the number of addicts and the number of methamphetamine-related crimes continue to climb. "I see a lot of crank as a complicating factor in people's lives," said Dr. Larry McIlvoy of Deaconess Hospital's emergency department. People high on methamphetamine come in hallucinating or attempting suicide. Family members and others come in wounded from attacks by violent methamphetamine addicts. And neglected children are brought to local hospitals, basically abandoned by parents who care more for their drug than for their family. Drug arrests have risen recently, going from 96 felony arrests in Yellowstone County in 1998 to 126 in 1999. But those cases don't account for most of the crimes related to the drug trade. "A lot of our other crime - theft and burglary - is a product of the drug trade," Yellowstone County Sheriff Chuck Maxwell said. "That's why they steal - to buy drugs." Pat Bellinghausen can be reached at 657-1303 or at --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck