What Will Happen if Mental Health and Alcohol Treatment Centers Are Closed?

Question by Patti: What will happen if mental health and alcohol treatment centers are closed?
in cities? There is one being “merged” with an adolescent unit in town, even the local legislator says it’s just a sneaky way to shut it down. About 500 patients use it per year. Do you think closing it down will increase the crime rate? The legislator says it will end up costing the state more than leaving it open, it costs $ 16,000 and up to house a prisoner. I think that crimes involving alcohol and drugs and psychotic people will increase if the center is closed.
We already got people living in the woods near Wal-mart and suspect that they go there to eat their way through the store and steal spray-paint to sniff while in the woods. Police have found empty cans of paint and large pieces of carpet they cover themselves in and said that they sleep there. Just wondering about when the woods get over-crowded and they come into the neighborhoods. The homeless shelters are over capacity as it is when the weather is bad.

Best answer:

Answer by Diane M
The crime rate will go up and there will be a lot more people not able to support themselves by working. It’s always better to get help for an addiction than to just punish someone because of it.
These are illnesses and should be treated as such

Answer by wasacon
Yes. The people that are using the services have to go somewhere. So they will end up in ERs with no insurance, crime will go up, prisons will take some of the burden, some folks will end up in mental units and/or nursing homes (because I guess they have lots of money to provide care?) Also, I think I can guarantee that some people that use these services are employed, and without this care and counseling they will lose what jobs they have.

Sounds like a lose/lose to me.