Text 23411, 76 rader
Skriven 2006-10-03 10:16:00 av MIMI GALLANDT (1:275/311)
     Kommentar till en text av JOHN HULL
Ärende: Pat Buchanan
====================
John Hull wrote:

JH>MIMI GALLANDT -> VERN HUMPHREY wrote:
JH> MG> VERN HUMPHREY wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I didn't know that. I've always been interested in the human mind and 
what causes people to do certain things, I wonder why some people just 
seem determined to throw their lives away.

L'Chaim

Mimi

In the beginning
the Word already was.

mimigal@cox.net

þ CMPQwk 1.42 9998 þ... "To eat, mayhaps to be of full stomache" ÄÄ Shakespeare
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