Interesting graphs and charts department

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

From Classic's graph link in Wikipedia...



Reagan, as Governor of Calif pushed the de-institutionalization of patients with mental illness...
proposing instead they be treated in their local communities with the State providing funds.
The funding never happened.
Then, as President, this de-institutionalization program spread across the nation.

Not to defend the resultant lack of care, but we cannot gloss over what those institutions were and occasionally still are. Abuse and neglect were rampant the system needed to be bulldozed not tweaked. Even today the institutionalized mentally ill suffer at the hands of insensitive, sometimes abusive, poorly trained staff. My SiL is trying to cleanup one such public facility in NYS. You would not believe how many workers are on administrative leave when they should have been fired and maybe prosecuted. Cuomo is rightfully pissed about it.

Oh and legalize it. You know, if Obama put a legalization plank down, I'd be back on board in a heartbeat. Hell I might even put a election sign by the road.

[Lamplighter]

Griff, I'm in agreement with you for the most part.

When the movement for de-institutionalizationi was beginning,
I was completely on-board... as were most of the families of the patients.

When Reagan became Governor in Calif, and was a good spokesman for the need
to do something about the care of the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled
(at that time called mentally retarded)

The disaster came because Reagan sold the policy based on promises
to continue the State $ in the form of "community service",
such as Group Homes, increased numbers of Case Workers, and health care and meds, etc.
But then once the institutions were emptied, he dried up or never even made available as promised.
His budgets for community care of these people shriveled.
When he became President, he followed the same path with Federal funds.

So we have what we have... high rates of mental illness among the homeless,
and the abuse of the homeless is out of sight, except to law enforcement,
and Case Workers with impossible case loads.
A thousand points of (flickering and dim or dark) lights.

Reagan is portrayed as a hero by the Republicans, but it's a superficial and mythical image.
Ummm...., but then the military did get it's 600-ship Navy.
.