Text 23363, 54 rader
Skriven 2006-10-03 04:52:38 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 23352 av MIMI GALLANDT (1:275/311)
Ärende: Pat Buchanan
====================
MIMI GALLANDT -> VERN HUMPHREY wrote:
 MG> VERN HUMPHREY wrote:

 GB>>>> You bet pharmcos go doctor shopping, that is why their
 GB>>>> advertising budget far exceeds their R&D costs. They put up
 GB>>>> huge, expensive getaways for Doctors in exotic locales and
 GB>>>> grease them there.

 SD>>> And that's why some of these medications cost $8 a PILL.  It's
 SD>>> part of the reason why we have so many homeless mentally ill
 SD>>> people around-they simply can't afford the medication that is
 SD>>> readily available and would help them become "normal" enough to
 SD>>> function as a member of mainstream society.

 VH>> A woman froze to death sitting on a bus stop bench in front of
 VH>> Housing and Urban Development.  The Secretary of HUD, Henry Cisenros,
 VH>> was outraged and promised to do something about it.

 VH>> Then the penny dropped.  The woman had a plastic wallet around her
 VH>> neck -- with $300 in cash and a reservation for the night in a
 VH>> shelter.  She also had a family that was out looking for her.  She
 VH>> was on medication, but she stopped taking it and wandered away.

 VH>> That's not uncommon -- people go unmedicated not because they can't
 VH>> get the medications, but because they don't LIKE taking them.

 MG> I'm only mentioning this because it's germane to the subject. I have
 MG> clinical depression that was brought on by the stroke 11 years ago. I
 MG> take the drugs because I sleep better and thinking of all the ways you
 MG> can off yourself isn't one of my favorite pastimes. :) Apparently,
 MG> though I am the exception to the rule. Many mentally ill people (like
 MG> schizophrenics and those with bi-polar disorder) take their pills until
 MG> the crisis passes and then figure they're "cured" and stop taking their
 MG> meds. That's very common and psychotic people end up on the streets
 MG> because they can't hold jobs or function in any "normal" way. This is
 MG> something that really pisses me off; a large part of San Diego's economy
 MG> comes directly from the military and yet 65% of San Diego's homeless
 MG> people are vets (many of them Vietnam vets). I find that just
 MG> outrageous, it seems to me that there ought to be a way that the county
 MG> could give back to these guys (and gals) who have given so much to us.
 MG> But, I rant...

Mimi, I worked in the Vet Center on 6th for several years back in the 80's.  We
saw thousands of vets who came in for counseling, job placement services, all
kinds of veteran issues, etc.  The vast majority of those vets who are homeless
are that way because they want it that way.  They are drug and alcohol abusers,
not mentally ill.  My boss there tried to help most of them at that time and
got nowhere.  They would clean up for awhile and seem to be on the return road,
but nearly all went back to their substance abuse after varying amounts of
time. They may be vets, but their time in the military only delayed their crash
and burn by a few years.

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