[jadell]

"Somewhere between Hospital and Jail" was supposed to exist. When mental institutions were essentially dismantled in the 70s and 80s, the promise was to move towards a more community-oriented system of specialized housing, counseling, and in-and-out-of-home mental care.

To the surprise of no one who knew better, funding for those initiatives was never put to those uses, and instead was funneled into law enforcement activities. When we treat mental health and drug addiction as criminal matters instead of public health matters, we get the sorts of outcomes we are seeing today.

[dmix]

Is there evidence that money wasn't put into "specialized housing, counselling and in and out home mental care"?

I'm sure a disproportionate amount went into law enforcement and arresting drug dealers instead of helping anyone. I'm just curious if there's data to back that up.

The resources are likely there already, just waiting to be redirected. I highly doubt the end of the war on drugs would significantly increase the supply than what it already is.