Stigmatizing Policies

We here at The LegalMind Society had originally planned a different topic for today’s post. However, yesterday The White House issued a new Executive Order. The order targets homeless individuals and those with mental illness, suggesting a broad policy of institutionalizing these individuals, rather than focusing on community mental health centers and more individualized approaches. The order also ends harm reduction programs, such as safe injection sites and distribution of the overdose reversal medication Narcan.

While combating addiction and homelessness are serious concerns that need real solutions, past experiences with things like insane asylums demonstrate that broad institutionalization isn’t the answer. Addiction recovery and mental health recovery always work better when handled with voluntary treatment options rather than forced treatments that undermine due process and dehumanize individuals by robbing them of choice.

Mental illness and homelessness are not crimes. Yet this order suggests otherwise. Moreover, it implies that these individuals are dangerous, when that is often not true. It is stigmatizing, and because of that stigmatizing policy, it will hurt not just those caught up in this order, but all who live with mental illness. It is disappointing.

The LegalMind Society continues to call for humane policies surrounding mental illness, policies that reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness rather than increasing it. We will continue to shout from the rooftops if need be that mental illness is not a crime, you are not “wrong” or “bad” for having a mental illness, and that you have nothing to be ashamed of for living with a mental health condition. And we hope future policies from the government will better reflect that truth.