1 Son, 4 Overdoses, 6 Hours

[gulliver]

9. We may need to go back to making a form "commitment" possible.

These people may need to be off the street and in treatment for at least a year. Currently, the way most of them get off the street for at least a year is by being convicted of a felony. That saves their lives, at least temporarily, but it sets them up for failure when they get out. They are packed into for-profit prisons. Their records are marred for life by felony convictions. Some states even force them to pay for their incarceration after they get out by working jobs they can't get. It's insanity.

Commitment is no longer a viable option. There are too few beds in mental institutions. Rehab time is usually way too short, a month or less. These people need a place to go where they can stay clean, get three sqares, develop good education and work habits, and be treated completely as non-criminals in every way. I don't know what the mechanics of getting them into this kind of rehab would be, perhaps a mix of voluntary and involuntary commitment.

We need something. A cure would be best. Absent that, these people need some rational, humane, effective alternatives.