About Us Before Laura's Law was signed, California law forbade the provision of care to thousands overcome by mental illness, ignoring the advances in scientific understanding of mental illnesses and their treatment in the three decades since the original law was passed. The old LPS law championed the “right” to be sick over the right to be well. People had to be an immediate danger to themselves or others before the law would permit intervention - nothing could be done if someone overwhelmed by mental illness was not actively dangerous. Interventions were essentially limited to short inpatient stays. The results are clear on our streets and in our headlines. Until Laura's Law was signed, California did not have the less intrusive mandated community treatment programs available in most states, known as assisted outpatient treatment. Knowing through bitter experience that California's laws promote continued psychosis over treatment, a few dozen of us joined together to create the California Treatment Advocacy Coalition (CTAC) in 1999. CTAC quickly grew to many hundreds, all bound by the belief that interventions for people with severe mental illnesses must not wait until there is an actual physical danger to the individual or to others - losing the ability of rational thought to an illness like schizophrenia should justify obviously and vitally needed treatment. Californians who are interested in joining the fight to save Laura’s Law are encouraged to join CTAC and receive periodic legislative updates by e-mailing us at [email protected]. Everyone is urged to work with their counties to implement the law. The California Treatment Advocacy Coalition is grateful to the national nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center for hosting this website. |
