We in society decided a long time ago that we were not going to pay for
institutionalizing mental patients and instead moved to medication on
an outpatient basis. This has not worked. We have very large numbers of
people who are living in the streets or nearly living in the streets.
We have large numbers of people who are uninsured and undiagnosed and
they are living (if not cared for by their families) in the street or
almost in the street.
When these people come into contact with the rest of us, we don't want
them near us. But at the same time, we don't want them
institutionalized or we don't want to pay for the cost of treating them.
It is a dilemma. We don't recognize that the cute little child will
someday grow up to be a "strawberry" prostitute (I confess I don't know
what that means). And we don't want to help the cute little child. We
would rather incarcerate the prostitute or heroin addict.
This is not a police and safety issue at root. We could help the police
a great deal by changing public policy but that seems to be more than
the public will can handle. When the tipping point will come is
anybody's guess.
Best wishes,
Laura
On Tuesday, August 16, 2005, at 05:48 AM, Guy Gambill wrote:
Many chronic
substance and alcohol abusers, as well as, those
who are truly "addicts" in a physiological sense,
are also impacted by other issues: They are the
victims of child abuse and sexual assault; many
suffer from PTSD (combat vets from Vietnam would
be a prime and well-known example); those who
suffer from FAS; people who cannot afford access
to-or pay for-medications that would alleviate
the symptomologies prevalent in sufferers of bi-polar
disorder, major depression, shizophrenia and schizo-
affective disorder, and a wide array of other
psychiatric disorders--many with a definitive
physiological component...
Wizard:
Anyone who has thought about it will tell you that
whether you have a million issues or only one, if you
are an addict, the first thing to do is deal with the
addiction. You'll get that info from AA, from pricey
Hazelton, or from a much humbler treatment facility.
Laura Waterman Wittstock
Candidate for Minneapolis Library Board of Trustees
DFL and Labor endorsed
Minneapolis, MN
612-387-4915
www.laurawatermanwittstock.com
http://laurawatermanwittstock.blogspot.com/
Wittstock for Library Committee
913 19th Avenue SE, Mpls, 55414
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