CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Florida’s neglect of mental illness is a heartless, deadly and long-running problem | Scott Maxwell

South Florida Sun Sentinel - 1/2/2021

A few weeks ago, a statewide grand jury issued a blistering indictment about the way Florida handles mental illness, describing it as serial neglect with deadly consequences.

“To put it bluntly, our mental health care ‘system’ — if one can even call it that — is a mess,” concluded the jury, which was formed at the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis after the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. “Now is the time for our local and state institutions to take bold action.”

Actually, the time to act was long before now.

For the grand jury’s harsh assessment is hardly new. Florida headlines have trumpeted problems and warnings for more than a decade.

In 2010: “Florida is 49th in per capita spending on mental health care.”

In 2014: “Florida’s mental-health epidemic reaches crisis point.”

And from last year: “A crisis without end: Florida ranks last among states in spending for mental health”

Please don’t act surprised.

I’d like to think DeSantis and all of the state’s 160 legislators will read the grand jury’s 27-page report — and then take bold action.

But I have no faith they will. Because nothing seems to penetrate the bubble of disconnected indifference in which many of these politicians live.

Not even bullets … since the rounds struck someone else’s children.

First, though, let’s start with a reality: Many people struggling with psychological issues are far more likely to be a victim of crime than to perpetrate one. Most are simply struggling to get by.

They are mothers struggling with bipolar disorder or teenagers who can’t get a handle on the voices in their head. Any decent society should want to help them.

But decency rarely seems to be a guiding force in Tallahassee, where deep-pocketed special interests control the bubble.

The mentally ill have no army of well-paid power brokers. They have social workers, correctional offices and parents who can’t score private audiences with legislators as easily as utility and insurance companies can.

For the last few years, I’ve hosted a luncheon for the Mental Health Association of Central Florida where we beg for $25 donations from audience members.

Meanwhile, lawmakers — who preside over a $92 billion budget that funds mental health worse than most states in America — give billions in tax breaks to convenience stores, credit card companies and theme parks.

The only time some politicians really focus on mental health is after an incident of mass violence. And then, it’s often just to distract from calls for gun control. They say: The problem isn’t guns! !t’s mental health! And then they go right back to ignoring mental health ... while showering economic goodies on their buddies in the lobbying corps.

In fact, here’s another headline for you: “Gun makers feast on Florida tax breaks.”

That one was from 2013 when the Miami Herald looked at all the tax breaks Florida grants specifically to the industries that many believe contribute to mass shootings — gun-makers, violent film production and bloody video games. The Herald found that, during “a tough budget year when the Legislature cut funding for school safety by $1.8 million and Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $5.7 million for mental health programs,” lawmakers found more than $10 million in economic incentives for those industries.

Some simpletons often respond to funding woes by saying: You can’t just throw money at a problem. These people refute arguments nobody made.

The grand jury didn’t ask lawmakers to throw money into a black hole.

We need better funding for mental health courts, for receiving centers at jails and for residential treatment programs.

Jurors stressed the issue is complex — involving a lack of coordination and leadership. And much of the grand jury’s report, prompted by the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, focused on school safety — specifically school construction, oversight and coordination with sheriffs.

But the jury also stressed what it called “a simple, indisputable fact: The State of Florida provides less funding per capita than any other state for mental health care and treatment.”

See, budgets are about choices. And for too long, Florida has chosen to short-change those struggling with mental illness ... even after news organizations shared stories like the Sentinel’s 2014 piece “Florida jails have become the asylums of the new millennium.”

That article shared the story of a man named James who suffered from schizophrenia and said: “I hear these voices. When I want to kill, I want to kill a lot of people because some people just need it. I’m angry all the time.” And we shared the stories of families in tears because they couldn’t find a place that would take their troubled teen.

Some of these cases are incredibly complex. But sometimes it’s just about chemistry — finding a medical professional who can prescribe the drug that will help the brain release the right chemicals at the right time.

The day after the grand jury’s report was released, DeSantis took a small step toward addressing these problems, announcing he was steering $23 million in CARES act funding to mental health. But that was a one-time hit from the feds. The state needs systemic solutions.

Desantis called the Stoneman shooting “tragic and avoidable.”

If he truly believes that, he and other lawmakers will listen to the grand jury — which noted that some of their recommendations had so far been ignored and said: “We can imagine no better investment than protecting the health and safety of our children.”

smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com

___

(c)2021 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.