No one will ever know whether more or better mental-health treatment would have prevented the six murders Isaac Zamora is charged with perpetrating last week in Skagit County.
But Tuesday’s shootings, which also left four people injured, underscore why society must do more to provide timely and effective help for those with mental illnesses and chemical dependency problems: Besides being the right thing to do, we’re all potentially vulnerable to what happens if we don’t.
On Monday afternoon, the Snohomish County Council is scheduled discuss funding priorities for mental-health and chemical-dependency programs, priorities that could become reality if the council approves a sales-tax increase of 1 cent on a $10 purchase. The priorities the council will consider appear sound. If they’re accompanied by reasonable standards for measuring their effectiveness over time, we encourage the council to approve this very modest tax hike, which would raise about $13 million a year.
Taxpayers are already paying for a lack of these programs in the form of increased crime, lost productivity and a higher burden on a range of county services. That’s why the Legislature in 2005 gave counties the option of levying such a tax, which King and Skagit counties already are doing. It’s an investment with a tangible payoff.
In a comprehensive report issued earlier this year, the county’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice identified clear connections between chemical dependency and incarceration, along with a lack of treatment resources, particularly for indigent abusers. It makes sense that if effective treatment can be delivered to such offenders, they’re less likely to wind up back in jail again and again, draining public safety dollars.
Programs that enable early intervention for families and youths with mental-health or drug problems offer a good chance to turn lives around while it’s still possible and prevent future tragedies. Currently, according to the state Department of Corrections, the prison system is the largest provider of mental-health services in the state. Something is seriously wrong with that picture. And because offenders with a mental illness are often treated the same as those without one, the system offers many of them superficial treatment that clearly isn’t cost-effective.
The council has an opportunity to raise the level of help that’s available to those who need it, increasing overall public safety in the process. As long as reliable performance measurements are part of the package, it’s an opportunity to seize.
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