To treat or not to treat   
   
    This week’s story on this year’s county budget brings a controversial subject to light – what needs to be done with the mentally ill in Maine.
    County Manager Peter Crichton says that jails have become “the last resort” for housing the mentally ill in Maine. He describes the state’s mental health system as “broken.”
    Nearly 100 percent of inmates at the Cumberland County Jail are on psychotropic medications – ones that are prescribed to help your mental state in one form or another.
    This issue boils down to a debate that has been raging for a number of years – should there be an attempt to rehabilitate those who commit crimes, but are found to be mentally unstable, or is the money that is spent trying to rehabilitate inmates unnecessary.
    Placing inmates on psychotropic medications reflects a trend that has been occurring in society as a whole – treatment for mental illnesses is being studied more and more and, as a result, is being treated on a greater scale.
    It is better to treat that this type of malady, whether it is manifesting itself on a small or large scale, rather than playing ignorant about it.
    It can be debated whether those who are incarcerated deserve treatment for their mental illness or not, but one way to look at it is this – treating the disease may keep repeat offenders from going to jail time and time again.
    To treat the mentally ill costs money and the price tag is always a consideration. But Maine should keep a close eye on the treatment of the mentally ill in the state and reforms may need to be made.