Laura's Law is a California law for court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment, for people with sever mental health disorders, that are unable to take care of themselves. Not because of denial, but because of a lack of awareness, that they themself have a mental illness. This is known as anosognosia. Mentally Ill People with anosognosia who may have a diagnosed disorder such as severe Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia, often times reject or evade prescribed treatment. This is often followed by homelessness, incarceration and visits to the hospital that are cyclic in nature. This program was intended to keep mentally ill people off the streets, out of jails and into treatment where they will be safe. By utilizing this program we are insuring a safer and healthier Santa Barbara County for all, especially for our most vunerable in the population. A similar program to that of Laura's Law known as Kendra's Law (New York), documented a massive decline in the rate of homelessness,incarcerations and hospitalizations which ment local government avoided enormous costs over what our existing local goverments policies consist of. Countless studies have been shown to prove a point that these laws are effective.The only fault-line is that unlike Kendra's Law, (New York), Laura's Law is to be implemented county by county instead of being passed for the entire state like Kendra's Law. With your voice and your concern, we can band together to make Santa Barbara County a better place to live.
* Gets the most severe mentally ill out of the prison system and into treatment
* Lowers the rate of homelessness and mortality in the county
* Gives mentally ill people dignity and reassurance
* Reforms the foundation of other programs that are not successful
1st District: Salud Carbajal
2nd District: Janet Wolf
3rd District: Doreen Farr
4th District: Joni Gray
5th District: Joseph Centeno
We the citizens of Santa Barbara County, would like you to consider the thought of implementing the Laura's Law program for the county. It is a program that will help our mentally severe and ill citizens, as well as making it safer and healthier for people who cannot make their own choices, where daily tasks become a long hard chore and where making one wrong decision can cost them their lives. By signing our name and by expressing our views we are supporting and opting for this cause and insisting that the program be instated. We would also like to thank you for your time and assessment.
