Max Baucus: “I must confess, I learned a lot about the scourge this past week when Gen. Barry McCaffrey was in Billings for a whole…”

“I must confess, I learned a lot about the scourge this past week when Gen. Barry McCaffrey was in Billings for a whole day and half the next day with his people, meeting with treatment people the whole time, various aspects of the people who deal with this. It is one big problem, as the Senator from Utah said. It is really vicious stuff. Once you are on it, it is worse than cocaine or heroin. It is harder to withdraw. The treatment is longer. I mean, this is wicked stuff. I might add, one fact I learned is that in our State--and I hope it is not true in Utah--we have a high percentage of users who shoot it with needles, or IV. Therefore, if we don't stamp it out, we are going to face a high incidence of hepatitis C and HIV. Dr. Green, an expert on the subject in Billings, was shocked last week when he came to understand the high rate of users who inject meth instead of taking it orally or smoking it. All I say is that I hope parents and communities will rally and knock this thing out. It is really bad stuff.”