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AB 1421 Veto Urged
Bill for More Forced Psychiatry Passed by California
Legislature,
Goes to Governor
California Network of Mental Health Clients Issues News Release and Call for
Action
3 September 2002 -- please forward
FROM: CALIFORNIA NETWORK OF MENTAL HEALTH CLIENTS (CALNET)
MORE INFO: Sally Zinman
Call to Action
After a four year battle against the expansion of forced treatment laws in
California, California clients denounce passage of AB 1421 out of the state
legislature.
"This represents a move backward for mental health clients' rights and
recovery," says Sally Zinman, Executive Director of California Network of Mental
Health Clients.
California clients, along with other mental health and disability advocates,
service providers and administrators will take their battle against AB 1421 to
the Governor.
Join them and write to:
The Honorable Gray Davis
Governor of California
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814 USA
Join them at a RALLY at the State Capitol
Building on Tuesday, September 17, 12 noon to urge Governor Gray to veto AB
1421.
AB 1421, modeled after Kendra's Law in New York, creates a new involuntary
outpatient commitment program for persons with psychiatric disabilities and
expands present commitment criteria and time frames
AB 1421 moves California in the wrong - and unproven - mental health policy
direction:
 | In Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, The Surgeon General of
the US states, "Almost all agree that coercion should not be a substitute for
effective care that is sought voluntarily," AB 1421 proposes coercion that
casts a wide net and includes individuals who would never become dangerous or
gravely disabled. |
| Investing in voluntary enhanced services is the answer to the suffering
that surrounds us, not more forced treatment. Voluntary community based !
services that support recovery have never been adequately funded. More forced
treatment ignores this real problem. |
| Coercive treatment is not an answer to "treatment noncompliance," Refusing
treatment is often the result of forced treatment; therefore, more forced
treatment is not a solution. |
| Informed choice about and control over one's treatment is essential for
recovery. AB 1421 removes choice and thus moves away from wellness and
recovery. |
| Current commitment law already has the power to force treatment on people
who are dangerous to themselves or others or are gravely disabled. The problem
is that current commitment law is not uniformly applied throughout the state.
All those involved in the implementation of current law need training. |
In a recent presentation to CNMHC members Board President Roy Crew stated,
"AB 1421 will not address the really important issues facing our mental health
community. There is already a shortage of voluntary mental health services and
this legislation will make the situation worse. It has the potential to drain
limited resources while compromising people's legal rights. It will upset the
balance of civil liberties. Why take a forced approach when voluntary treatment
has proven to be more effective?"
AB 34 Programs Are Doing the Job
The AB 34 programs, model voluntary programs initiated 3 years ago and now in 30
counties, essentially serve the same population as AB 1421 proposes to serve. A
witness supporting AB 1421 reported that involuntary outpatient commitment
programs have a 70% engagement rate. AB 34 programs have engaged 84% of the
difficult-to-serve people who have been contacted, reducing incarceration,
hospitalization and homelessness significantly.
Why duplicate or rob a successful program with a program that is less successful
according to its own experts; more costly because of the staff ratio and inv!
estigation, court and enforcement costs; not proven based on the RAND report
(commissioned by the California Senate) which calls involuntary outpatient
commitment "experimental"; and harmful, according to the vast majority of
clients who would suffer under it.
AB 1421 also may compromise the integrity of the AB 24 programs. AB 1421
programs, according to the author, "would attempt to bring this " resisting"
group into the services provided through AB 2034." This merging of coercion and
an involuntary population with the voluntary, non-threatening AB 34 programs
will compromise the integrity of these programs, changing the nature of the
services and causing clients to lose trust in them.
"Kendra's Law" Applied Unequally
AB 1421 is a County option-in version of New York State's "Kendra's Law." Based
on New York State's experience with outpatient commitment, the data raises
concerns that outpatient commitment may target people of color. In New York
State, 42% of the client population placed under outpatient commitment are Black
while Black people represent only 24% of the total client population served.
Conversely, 29% of the client population placed under outpatient commitment are
White while that population represent 51% of the total client population served.
60% of those placed under outpatient commitment are male, and 83% have been
located in New York City whose residents represent only one half of the State's
client population. Involuntary outpatient commitment appears to be used for
political not mental health reasons, and the basis for a court order seems to
rely heavily on a combination of a person's ethnicity, gender, and location.
Despite this racial imbalance in the implementation of Kendra's law, on which AB
1421 was based, AB 1421 does not include demographics in its reporting
requirements.
The Foundation of AB 1421 is Discrimination Based on Centuries Old Stereotypes
that have been Exploited to Pass a Law:
| The false stereotype of the violent mental patient underpins the need to
increase forced treatment. On the contrary, the MacCarthur Violence Risk
Assessment Study found that " the prevalence of violence among people who have
been discharged from a hospital and who do not have symptoms of substance
abuse is about the same as the prevalence of violence among other people
living in their communities who do not have symptoms of substance abuse. " |
| The false stereotype that people with psychiatric disabilities have no
notion of their condition also fosters the need to increase forced treatment.
On the contrary, the MacCarthur Treatment Competence Study found that, " Most
patients hospitalized with serious mental illness have abilities similar to
persons without mental illness for making treatment decisions. Taken by
itself, mental illness does not invariably impair decision making capacities." |
Ms. Zinman recently wrote in an editorial piece, "AB 1421 panders to fear and
stereotypes. It scapegoats mental patients for homelessness, violence and the
general ills of our society, creating the misconception these civic concerns
will be lessened. Legislators should commit the system to providing services to
people with mental disabilities, not commit the people whom the system has
failed."
The CNMHC will be joined by many other organizations as it takes this battle to
the Governor's office. These organizations include: Protection and Advocacy
Inc., California Association of Mental Health Patients Rights Advocates,
California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies, California Council of
Local Mental Health Agencies, California Psychological Association, California
Foundation of Independent Living Centers, and many more state and local mental
and disability organizations.
AB 1421 Veto Urged by Anti-psychiatrist Groups
Dear Friends,
AB 1421, the forced psychiatric drugging bill, has passed the California State
Legislature and gone to Governor Gray Davis. He has to actively VETO the bill,
or it will become law!
Forced psychiatric treatment is the same tactic that is used now in China to
destroy people who disagree with the government, and was used the same way in
the Soviet Union. Don't think that this cannot happen to YOU!
The bill would install a scheme in California where people labeled "mentally
ill" can be handed over to an expensive, un-regulated "team" that runs their
life--handles their money, forces them to take mind-altering psychiatric drugs,
and can decide when to put them into a mental hospital. Since "mental illness"
is a matter of opinion, not verifiable like physical illness, this puts
EVERYONE'S freedom in jeopardy!
Your letter is needed NOW to Governor Gray Davis to have him VETO AB 1421! Make
it short, in your own words, and talk about a personal story of abuse, if you
have one. The address is Governor Gray Davis, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA
95814. Please email a copy to cchrla@pacbell.net or fax to me at 323-667-0115.
Suggested topics:
1) It is well-known that nearly all the mass murderers in recent years have been
on psychiatric drugs! These drugs turn troubled people into unpredictable
killers who terrorize innocent children and citizens. I am personally concerned
that this program will cause people to become violent, homicidal psychotics, as
this is a known side-effect of these drugs. Will one of them be living next door
to me?
2) AB 1421 is an expensive piece of legislation that burdens the State with an
endless future financial commitment, because people turned over to outpatient
involuntary treatment teams don't get well. They stay a financial burden for the
rest of their lives. Outpatient involuntary treatment teams are expensive!
3) Mental health is full of costly fraud. According to the 2001 report of the
U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Office of the Inspector General,
between 33% and 50% of billings for services in 1998 were incorrect, resulting
in $185 million in added costs to the taxpayers. We can't afford this type of
abuse.
4) With the huge budget deficit, California can't afford to start up a huge new
program. This will cost millions! Counties that are slashing their health care
programs can't afford to shift the funding to this expensive scheme!
5) I don't want my tax dollars used to fund forced psychiatric drugging!
If you are a California resident or if you have anyone on your mailing list that
resides in California, please be sure and forward the above message on to them.
~The Avenging Angel
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