Public Comment

First of all, please give me credit for my ability to understand this issue. It is not that I don’t understand, I simply do not agree. 

Secondly: I question the accuracy of your statistics and they have been given without a qualifying context. By this I mean that you haven’t given the “who, what ,where and when” and also in what category these statistics have been gathered. I seriously doubt that there are 74 percent fewer homeless in New York. 48 percent less drug abuse? Unbelievable. Among what category of people, where, what time period and so on have these unbelievable statistics been created? Can you provide a link to a page that would have all of the details of this study? Because so far, you have stated something that is without context and seems improbable. 

Third: Laura’s Law does not specify how the subjects will come to the attention of those who enforce it. That means that the ugly scenario of enforcers going into people’s homes could still happen, even though it may not have been done in the pilot programs. 

Fourth: The homeless need food, medical care, housing, jobs and a purpose to life. Forcing psychiatric treatment on people will not solve the problems of the homeless. 

Fifth: I question the accuracy of your statement that our rights will be protected, and I question the circumstances, and even the existence of such a court appearance. 

Having a court appearance, one in which the counsel’s paycheck is generated by the same corrupt court system, is no guarantee of people’s rights being protected. Few people in their right mind resort to using a public defender if they can possibly afford better counsel. 

And no, I am not confusing Laura’s Law with preexisting laws. Laura’s Law will launch an entirely new and oppressive system of enforcement. 

Huge numbers of people commit infractions to the law, such as drunk in public; most of them do not require psychiatric treatment. When our society across the board medicates all of those who are considered a problem, it’s not mental health being dispensed, it is use of psychiatric drugs as a form of mass punishment. 

Mr. Stone, I don’t think you fully understand the ramifications that will be created by widespread use of this law.