Letter to editor: State should restore mental health funding
Most mentally ill people aren't violent, but the Tucson shootings remind us that it isn't a good time to slash treatment funding.
In the wake of the tragedy in Tucson, is this really the time for Washington state to slash funding for the mentally ill? As of January 2011, many mentally ill people in our state have lost access to medications and psychiatric services.
While it is true that many mentally ill people are not violent, the combination of no medication and paranoid or delusional thinking can, indeed, result in the kind of behavior we saw in Tucson.
Please, I appeal to the public, the governor, and the legislature not to let this happen. Restore funding for these most disturbed and vulnerable citizens.
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Comments:
Posted Tue, Jan 25, 11:36 a.m. Inappropriate
Restore funding?
From where?
As a state, we cannot just print more money like the federal government to temporarily stave-off the inevitable. The state is broke, and so is the federal government - we cannot appeal to the federal government for anymore bailouts.
So, shall the funds to "restore" spending for MH come from? Education maybe? State employees' pensions? Turn more prisoners loose from our jails and prisons?
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