SENTENCED TO THE SIDEWALK: One woman’s misery reveals flaws in Oregon commitments – Salem Reporter:
A five-month Salem Reporter investigation found that Kayser’s death was the inevitable conclusion of a statewide mental health system forged under the idea that if someone is rejecting help, it’s in their best interest to be left on the street.
Her tormented life and public death reveal opportunities missed and forbidden under Oregon law, which has made forcing people into psychiatric treatment nearly impossible unless they’re about to kill themselves or someone else.
There is a belief in leftist circles that all people know what’s best for themselves under all circumstances. This is why you get governmental policies that encourage the handing out of clean needles to junkies, advocating if not encouraging kids who claim to be transgender, and siding with criminals instead of victims racial inequity or poverty or whatever excuse is convenient. However well-intentioned, it is a profoundly cruel philosophy.
Decades of inaction and missteps by politicians and the Oregon Health Authority leave few options outside of the criminal justice system for people who desperately need help. Instead, the state’s system delivers people like Kayser to sidewalks and ensures they can only leave in the back of a police car, an ambulance or a body bag.
When you say “politicians” in Oregon you need to replace that with Democrats. They have fully controlled state government since 2012. If you don’t like what’s going on here, there is only one party to blame. (Which is less, perhaps, about it being the Democrats and more about a single party having complete control of all parts of government. It’s not like the Trump-led GOP which controls all three branches federally is any better. They’re just as bad, albeit in different ways.)