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> Regan's removal of mental health services You know, for many years I also echoed this point but then I realized that it's been almost 50 years since he gutte

• parker_mountain 4y ago
  Because, it really wasn't an issue until relatively recently. It's more fair to say, why haven't they done it in the past 10 years? And the answer is, they are. The state has been pledging increasing amounts of money into the system, and has been working to draft legislature that allows for extended holds. Spinning up an entire new hospital system is difficult. It's not something you can do in a year or two, and expect to have positive long term outcomes from. Implementing longer holds past the 72 hours is difficult to do, unpopular legislation (because of potential for abuse), and fraught with legal challenges. The laws required basically have to say that the state has the right to hold someone against their will, and force medication upon them. That is a very difficult thing to write, implement, and monitor. Furthermore, implementing these facilities and conservatorships in a humane and ethical way is difficult - Reagan was right to shut down the facilities, but wrong to not instead spend the money and effort to improve and overhaul them.