Thank the liberals...we wouldn't want to violate these people's Constitutional rights by confining them against their will, just because they are ill. Sorry, Amelia, but there's plenty of blame to pass around on this issue. In Missouri, many mental-health facilities were shut down by then-Gov. John Ashcroft, triggering the release of hundreds of mentally ill patients. Liberals, in turn, insisted on trying to "mainstream" these patients, when many (if not most) needed continued hospitalization.
None of this, of course, diminishes my admiration for your screen name, which happens to be one of the most lyrical words in our language.
I was thinking that the facilities were shut down because mainstreaming (brought on by a federal court case) caused many of the facilities to be unused, but I'm not in the mood to go look it up today. I know that Reagan wrongly received much of the blame from liberals.
And thank you, a spoonful of sugar DOES help the medicine go down! :)
And in CA Jerry Brown's Daddy who was Gov released all the patients who were there under MediCal. It is a shame.