Jared and John: Drugs, mental illness and violent outcomes
David Stringer: Retired teacher and author.
Jared and John’s lives took very different paths to their violent climax. Thanks to the resources of our family, John was bumped from the criminal justice track to a treatment track. Arrested, like Loughner, for possession of drug paraphernalia, he was eventually evaluated and treated at a hospital. We hired an attorney who negotiated an arrangement whereby John was released into a halfway house on a year’s probation, with regular drug testing and supervision by a series of social workers who continued to monitor him after the probation was served.
John managed to stay off of the crack cocaine and LSD that played such a major part in his life, though he did drink some beer and smoke some pot in violation of the probation. The authorities apparently let this slide. John reluctantly continued to take his medications, primarily because we told him that he would end up back in jail if he stopped taking them. He would move from treatment back to punishment.
According to reports I’ve read, Jared had numerous encounters with law enforcement, including several arrests. Law enforcement authorities knew about him, and Pima Community College suspended him after he violated the student code of conduct. Police officers reportedly spoke with Loughner and his parents, and on Oct. 7, Pima informed his parents that if he wanted to return to school he would need a letter from a mental health official indicating that “his presence at the College does not present a danger to himself or others.”
I don’t know if Jared’s parents ever sent him to that mental health evaluation - an opportunity to move him from a law enforcement track and into treatment. Some combination of drugs, mental illness, and personal choices that the courts will evaluate drove him to violence. His demons were evident to many.
The sad irony is that although the system worked for our John, he nevertheless was murdered, probably for the money that our family was providing for his support. No system of gun control would have spared my brother, who was beaten and strangled with a rope that went around his throat to his hands tied behind his back.
Treatment was his only hope, and to a large extent it was working. I suspect that people like Jared and John, often living on the fringes of society, are more often the victim of crime than the perpetrator.
I don’t know enough about politics and public policy to suggest how better to move the Jareds in our country from the criminal justice system to the mental health treatment system. The answer may lie with those already devastated by the behavior of the mentally ill: the families who must try to get them the treatment they need.
Our family knows that getting an unwilling family member into treatment is difficult - for years we tried, unsuccessfully, to get help for John - and even with relatively successful treatment he ended up murdered. But at least we feel that we did all we could.
David Stringer is a retired Huron High School teacher preparing to publish “What’s My Zip Code?” - a book about his brother’s life and death. You can read more about John Stringer’s 2004 death at www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/magazine/issues/2008_winter/stringer.
Comments
Michael A.
Fri, Jun 3, 2011 : 4:20 a.m.
Hi David, My name is Michael Robles, and I knew John from about 1975 until 1988. I was one of his roommates there on N. 30th st. in Phoenix for a couple years in the early 1980's. I was in denial about his drug use, and found it hard to accept, but finally did. It is so sad to learn how he died. I have some photo's of John that you might like, of his happier times, if you would like. Mike
Gyll Stanford
Mon, Feb 7, 2011 : 1:47 a.m.
David, I'm sorry for the loss your family has experienced. My family, also has experienced the difficulties that come with alcohol and mental health issues. I don't remember all the arguments pro and con back in the 1960's and 1970's for closing the state hospitals. I do recall the argument, "These people shouldn't be locked up", "It's not fair to them". As a conservative I can understand the Constitutional concerns involved in "locking these patients up". I also, can see the "effects" of the current public policy leaving these patients on their own. The state hospitals in Pontiac, Ypsilanti and others around the state, I'm sure, were not the best for housing/treatment. These were closed and the patients were main streamed into society with different support systems for their assistance. My questions are, "Should society have closed the state hospitals? Is the current system better or worse than if something similar to the state hospitals were reopened." We as a society need to ask, is it "best" to, restricting a patients freedom vs the plight they face now with homelessness, substance abuse and the victimization they experience living on the street. Have we solved the problems from the days of the state hospitals or have we created more severe unintended consequences? We must recognize these problems are not just the financial costs of the numerous programs our tax dollars are funding. These "problems" are lives that experience years of pain. Pain, thankfully most of us will never feel. The problems these patients experience are up and down the scale. Solutions to these problems are as varied as the conditions. Maybe we as a society should look at restructuring the option of treatments to help a patient get a better solution for their problem. If solutions were provided along a scale of treatments including a state hospital like option, maybe law enforcement efforts could be redu
Gyll Stanford
Mon, Feb 7, 2011 : 1:51 a.m.
The last line was ...maybe law enforcement efforts could be reduced ...and tragic events like in Arizona could be avoided.
Basic Bob
Sun, Feb 6, 2011 : 10:06 p.m.
Mental illness and drug addiction are two separate conditions, however many people suffer from both. Whether or not you subscribe to the theory that drug addiction or alcoholism is a disease, the treatment is similar to mental illness. These are not conditions that just miraculously disappear. They require constant vigilance by the afflicted, and benefit from the support of loving and caring family members. Sometimes the best thing that a family member can do is allow the addict to suffer the consequences of their drug-induced behavior, including homelessness, victimization, and incarceration. Maybe this is also true of a mentally ill person who refuses to take their medication, I don't know. The court system has encouraged many addicts to attend treatment and recovery meetings. Even the ones who return to their old lifestyle benefit from the hope that it is possible to put down the drugs and find a new way of life. IMO, it is a valuable function of law enforcement and the court system.
dotdash
Sun, Feb 6, 2011 : 5:18 p.m.
What a tragic story about your brother John; my heart goes out to you. I think everyone with a mentally ill relative recognized from the initial stories what was going on with Jared Loughner. Whether and how his parents tried and failed to get him help or whether he was intractably ill -- I suppose that will come out later. Their isolation alone speaks volumes about what it is like to have a mentally ill family member. My family will be forever grateful to the mental health professionals and kind police officers who saved my brother when he had bad episodes in the late 80s. He now runs a successful business and has a family and manages his illness with a combination of medication and close attention from doctors. He is one of the lucky ones. A lot depends on the resources -- financial, emotional, time -- that the family has to contribute, but a lot also depends on having societal structures in place that can help. Within those social structures are so many loving, giving, supportive people without whom more tragedies would surely occur. Bless you all.
James Svensson
Sun, Feb 6, 2011 : 2:41 p.m.
I work for what is commonly known as Community Mental Health in Washtenaw County. I supervise three high intensity treatment teams that work with people like Mr. Stringer's brother, who have serious mental illnesses and substance abuse. We serve many clients who have been a danger to themselves or others and are treated involuntarily through Court Ordered Treatment. The courts can order individuals with no insight into their illness to get treatment so that they can live in the community safely. Individuals with mental health issues and substance abuse are at higher risk for victimization, homelessness and are more likely to have histories of violence. Washtenaw County Community Mental Health has been very active in providing substance abuse services for individuals with mental illness. We also provide help and support to the families of our clients through individual and group meetings. Families can get help for loved ones who are ill through several means: 1) For crises you can call the Community Crisis Team-994-8048 or The Psychiatric Emergency Services at 996-4747 2) For less urgent needs The Community Mental Health Access Services number is 544-3050