Editorial: To save lives, change psych laws
Published: May 07, 2007

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Minnesota doesn't wait, and it shouldn't. Its commitment law was changed several years back to enable court-assisted treatment before citizens with chronic mental illness reach rock bottom. [The] statute permits outpatient commitment plans -- an ingenious option too rarely used to good effect. Such orders, which typically allow patients to avoid hospital stays so long as they follow a daily medication and therapy regimen, work well and cheaply to spur recovery so long as relapses are caught early. Properly monitored, outpatient commitment can quell violence among the sliver of psychotic people prone to such impulses.

http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1164170.html


Editorial: Time for new debate on the subject of guns
Published: May 07, 2007

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Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign & Center to Prevent Gun Violence, proposed an excellent catalog of reforms at the National Press Club last week. Top on the list: passing the Schumer-McCarthy NICS Improvement Act, which would give states reason and help to send more information to the federal database consulted in background checks. That's a no-brainer, as are others he poses, including requiring background checks for all gun sales and again banning magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1164173.html