MD budget hearings

I testified at the Senate budget hearing for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration today and the committee was sympathetic and attentive.

What was really interesting, though, were the folks waiting to testify on the Mental Hygiene Budget. You had the lapdog provider association that has, for years, been "Chamberlainesque" in their dealings with the Mental Hygiene Administration for years, failing to protest obvious state violations of the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision and On-Our-Own members, who have forgotten the face of their fathers, don't come close to representing the vast majority of people with psychiatric disabilities and actually advocate for violations of the Olmstead Decision, specifically the moratorium on the development of affordable housing for people with psychiatric disabilities. This, at the same time, as they reap state monies to develop housing themselves. Hypocrites and violators of civil rights at the same time.

Ultimately, though, the problem lies with a lack of vision and leadership at the state level -- state leaders who pat providers on the head for not making waves or filing legitimate civil rights law suits or lining the pockets of "consumer" leaders who pretend to have the best interest of the masses with severe mental illnesses in mind.

In the richest state in the Union can we afford to have these perennial games go on? I would hope not.

But my hope is lagging.