San Francisco expected to adopt Laura's law for mentally ill

San Francisco Chronicle/Heather Knight, 6/23/14.  "Laura's law appears headed for adoption in San Francisco." 

Required mental health care

Avoid sending mentally ill people to jail

"The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will almost certainly adopt Laura's Law to compel mentally ill people into treatment through the standard legislative process this summer, avoiding the need to put the politically charged subject on the November ballot.

Supervisor Mark Farrell last month announced he had the four votes on the board he needed to qualify Laura's Law for a ballot measure, but he said he was open to passing it legislatively instead if he could get the six votes necessary.

....  Laura's Law was adopted at the state level in 2002 and is named after Laura Wilcox, a college student who was shot dead by a psychiatric patient at a Nevada County clinic in 2001. The law allows a family member, roommate, mental health provider or police or probation officer to petition the courts to compel a mentally ill person into outpatient treatment, but it does not allow for mandatory medication."  Read article. 

Reference - Laura's Law basics.  "Laura's Law, signed into CA law in 2002, allows court-ordered, intensive outpatient treatment for people with servere mental illness who refuse medication, because the illness impairs their ability to make rational decisions.In those counties that adopt it, the AB 1421 program would permit people who are severely disabled by mental illness-- and currently caught in a revolving door of homelessness, incarceration, and hospitalization-- to receive timely, continuous, and supervised treatment in the community."  Wikipedia.The law was named after Laura Wilcox, a mental health worker who was killed by an American citizen who had refused psychiatric treatment. CA Welfare and Institutions code, section 5345-5349.5.   Mental illness policy organization.  "... Counties have the option to implement Laura's Law and most have not. By failing to use Laura's Law, county mental health directors transfer the seriously ill to jails, prisons, shelters and morgues."  

Related -  Justice not jails/Kellen Russoniello, 3/10/14. "Treating mental health issues can help justice system."After 30 years of locking up our mentally ill and addicted individuals, Californians agree that people with mental illness and substance use disorders should be offered treatment instead of imprisonment.  

Note photographs: court from Times Free Press;  men from related Justice not jails article.

Posted by Kathy Meehntal illnesses who refuse medication because the illness impairs their ability to make r