You may have read this:

Last year, Maryland enacted one of the nation’s strictest gun laws after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., but also opted to focus on mental health issues by creating the center for early intervention.

It was in a Baltimore Sun story about the Center for Excellence on Early Intervention for Serious Mental Illness.  Its aim is to intervene on behalf of a mentally ill person who might otherwise fall through the cracks, like the Columbia Mall shooter.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-mental-health-shootings-20140321,0,6918153.story

We didn’t address mental health issues last session by accident.

Shortly after the tragedy in Newtown, I met with two mental health advocates.

“This incident is an opportunity to increase spending for mental health prevention,” I advised.  “Draft a bill that lays out the unmet needs.”

The fiscal note for the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Safety Net Act of 2013 was $40 million in State funds.  The budget for the Center for Excellence is $1.2 million.

After reading the Sun article this weekend, I wrote the advocates.

Court-ordered treatment is in the forefront now was the response.  We’ll resume working on the need to get preventive services in place.