Letter: Saving my family member from the drugs in Brookings

I never would have imagined typing this when we chose to buy a house here 3 years ago. We need psychiatrists available in person to treat patients. I can’t believe this hasn’t become a state of emergency. Psychiatric disorders should be treated as medical emergencies the same as broken limbs or cancer.

My family member has been mistreated and learned that her health does not count. All she had to do was take a walk-in town and she was offered meth just like that. She is brilliant, comes from a loving home, has so much support but never received the medical care she needed in the multiple attempts at getting it.

This is a reality. We wouldn’t have a homeless issue if we didn’t have meth so readily available everywhere here. Mental health disorders need to be treated properly at their start. My family member has been put off and disregarded and not taken seriously and she may pay the price with her life.

I know many readings this have lost someone to mental illness. I fear for our youth. To every family member out there like me write to your senator and representative. We need to HELP. We need LAWS. We need to take this seriously. We NEED a task force. To the retired community out there that has means and is the majority please listen to this plea. I believe that we will see more and more youth developing mental health disorders over the years and we need to be there for them.

Jen Petri

Brookings