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The Montgomery County Gazette

June 12, 2002

Reprinted with permission of the author.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Point not made

In a May 29 letter ("Some points not mentioned"), Laura Van Tosh seriously misrepresented my position by saying that I have "called for shutting down the federal Center for Mental Health Services and the National Institute of Mental Health."

In fact, what I have said is that neither federal agency is doing the job it should be doing, which is to focus on individuals with severe psychiatric disorders as their primary mission. These are the individuals who make up an increasing number of the homeless population and those jailed for misdemeanors.

In the case of CMHS, I have said that it is doing such a poor job that if it were closed down, almost nobody would notice.

However, the goal should be to ensure that both agencies do their jobs, so that they will not have to be closed.

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, Bethesda

The writer is executive director of The Stanley Medical Research Institute.

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