 |
|
|
|
|
 |
||||
Willamette Week welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. |
||||
Site Navigator News: |
||||
 |
|||
|
TREATMENT VS. DETENTION I suggest that WW is confusing the concept of mental health treatment with "preventative detention." Our mental health system is designed to help people recover from mental illness. Putting dangerous people away is the job of our criminal justice system. That system needs to provide good mental health services to those in custody and to use probation and parole to tightly control treatment compliance upon release. As for WW's interest in locking people up before they offend, the Oregon Legislature began to consider this prospect in House Bill 3156 which did not pass last session. This bill, prompted by the Supreme Court decision in Kansas vs. Hendricks, would have permitted "sexually dangerous predators" to be committed indefinitely after their release from prison for a sexually violent offense. The purpose of this confinement is not to help the predator recover from an illness, it is to protect the public. I assume that this bill will be back next session. WW should watch it carefully and think about who society should be confining preventively (that is, not for punishment or treatment), and how we should go about doing it. Confusing this social purpose with mental health treatment would, I submit, be a mistake that could undermine the progress we've made in helping people with mental illness. Lastly, with full knowledge that this point may be dismissed for political correctness, the title of your article perpetuates negative stereotypes of mental illness. Ken Kesey used the term "cuckoo's nest" ironically. You use it as a wistful endorsement. Bob Joondeph, Executive Director, Oregon Advocacy Center You state that "...(the mentally ill) are more likely than the general population to commit an act of violence," but give no specifics, including the source of your information. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has distributed statistics showing that those labeled mentally ill are no more likely to commit crimes than other people. But even if your claim is correct, does that warrant locking up "mentally ill" people for reasons for which you would not imprison members of any other group? You would probably defend others' right to freedom unless reasonable cause exists to believe that they have committed a crime. Some risk is the cost of a society in which freedom and justice are valued. It is alarming that, due to the dehumanization of the "mentally ill," you are willing to see their civil rights suspended. Psychiatrists cannot accurately predict which of the so-called mentally ill need to be locked up and which don't. Bethea's case proves that. My own case proves that: When I was 15 psychiatrists advised my parents that I be kept in a mental institution for the rest of my life. My parents demanded my release after six months of psychiatric imprisonment, and I went on to live a reasonably normal life. From the nasty, reptilian, cover caricature to your assertion that Mr. Bethea's reasons for killing Ms. Cuenca could "...make sense in only one troubled mind," your prejudices against the "mentally ill" are stunningly obvious. Whatever you think of his actions, you do not have the right to declare Bethea's reasoning incomprehensible, or, indeed, that the behavior of those like myself "defies logic." I urge the staff of Willamette Week to overcome their prejudices and write the survivors' side of the story of "mental illness." Grace Heckenberg, Northeast 11th Avenue CHALLENGE THE SYSTEM Your story on Monica Cuenca's murder was typical of mainstream media ["One Fell Through the Cuckoo's Nest," WW, Sept. 3, 1997). What happened to alternative journalism? How about questioning the roots of the "mental health" system? Exploring alternatives? And especially, how about finally challenging the tired and seemingly inevitable concluding mantra for such articles: "give more taxpayer money to the current mental health system"? The article promotes the status quo. One example: The writer stated that forcing people to stay on "miracle drugs" was the ultimate answer for emotional distress. Yet, many of these drugs--especially after years of use--can often cause the opposite of their intended effects. Long-term use of superpowerful psychiatric drugs can at times cause persistent brain changes and even measurable brain shrinkage. Some miracle. See any book by the whistleblower psychiatrist, Peter R. Breggin, MD. How about looking at the fact that our society produces an enormous amount of mayhem, suicide, violence? The mental health system shrinks the entire crisis to the mystifying fiction of a genetically broken brain with a shortage of the latest chemical quick fix. Our society is complicit by neglecting to prevent future murderers from developing right now, especially in their youth. Drug companies--now in the driver's seat of the mental health system--benefit by ignoring such psychosocial realities. Resources are diverted from effective alternatives. Our advocacy group is pro-choice on psychiatric drugs. Many members choose to take such drugs. But to believe that the primary answer involves forcing people--both inside and outside institutions--to "stay on their meds" is a horrible lie. People living in their own homes out in the community can now be involuntarily drugged in 35 states, including Oregon. Support Coalition Northwest is open to the public and led by people who survived abuses in the mental health system. Phone us at (541) 345-9106 or e-mail: dendron@efn.org David Oaks, Co-coordinator, Support Coalition Northwest, Eugene BATTLE AGAINST BLIGHT While there are difficulties in regulating painted wall signs and murals, the city has clear authority to regulate the over 800 existing, non-conforming, large billboards that mar our community streets and business districts. All of these billboards exceed the current size limitations in the sign code. The next step is to require modification or removal of the existing billboards that are now non-conforming under the new sign code. The City Council has a key role to play in the battle against visual blight in our community. The City Club urges the City Council to continue to explore options for resolving the painted wall sign issue. We also encourage the City Council to take quick and decisive action to initiate a program to require the modification or removal of billboards and other large traditional signs that violate Sign Code regulations. Kurt Wehbring, Chairman, City Club Billboard Regulation Study Committee OUTRAGE WILL OUT Mr. Becker: The people of this world are united by a social contract. We devise laws to protect ourselves from the depredations of those lacking in human feeling--witness vandals, molesters, thieves and murderers. People who love and respect fellow members of society follow the spirit of the law when it is more restrictive than the letter of the law. I was raised to call this civic-mindedness, and occasionally virtue. Your signs, those mammoth advertisements which earn your livelihood, are a blight on our fair city. I looked for a picture of you in WW's article, and was disappointed--I wanted to see what dollar signs looked like shining from someone's eyes. The coins in your pocket will dull; the bills will burn your fingers when they leave your hand; the food you eat in restaurants will taste of ashes. Tell your clients--at least one person in Portland patently refuses to buy any product or patronize any business which advertises via billboard, skywriting, or television. (Not that I own or watch a television, but when I find out....). Best wishes that your artistic veins flow in a happier direction toward more worthwhile endeavors. Stumptowners: Advertising raises the price of your goods and services! Is it worth it? Picture yourself vacationing with that money instead, or paying off your credit debt. And don't forget to celebrate Buy Nothing Day on Nov. 28 this year. Jessica Coleman, Southwest Vista Avenue |
|
|