But it’s worth noting that, despite harming precisely no one, West likely became another example of the criminalization of mental illness in America.

it’s not illegal to be mentally ill. but it is illegal to do illegal things even when the one doing them is mentally ill.

I don’t think you’re right, though, because that might be the entire prosecution. Gun laws in the District are pretty strict.

Leave it Eifling to write a decent post about a good subject, but fail to copy and paste the most important part and miss out on a good part of the context.

Actually that’s in there already, it just wasn’t formatted in italics.

/nobody reads the posts

But once the rhapsodizing dribbles out, we get to the candy center: A rich account of how West, tripping one night on the Seroquel that treats his bipolar disorder, decided to load up three guns, including a shotgun in a guitar case, and hit the freeway barely able to stay awake — and then flag down a police car.

Leave it Eifling to write a decent post about a good subject, but fail to copy and paste the most important part and miss out on a good part of the context.

Gracious, for a while there, at the top of its story about Delonte West, the former Cleveland Cavalier, it appeared as though Slam was going to fall into every celebrity-profile trap known.

I’m not sure what just happened there.

So if an alcoholic gets a DUI, hurting precisely no one, isn’t that also criminalization of an illness? Both examples need to be taken off the street until proven otherwise. It’s an example of making the street a safer place to drive, nothing more. You’re reading too much into it and trying to make a point that isn’t there.

I thought the same thing…but I was going to try to make fun of Eifling while replying. Good work.

If West is suffering from a diagnosed mental illness, and is on prescribed medication for said illness, and approaches an agent of the law to explain that he’s having trouble driving — then what the hell good is arresting him? West wouldn’t be the first person to be picked on for having a mental health condition, and certainly not the first to be picked up for the same. But it’s worth noting that, despite harming precisely no one, West likely became another example of the criminalization of mental illness in America.

So if an alcoholic gets a DUI, hurting precisely no one, isn’t that also criminalization of an illness? Both examples need to be taken off the street until proven otherwise. It’s an example of making the street a safer place to drive, nothing more. You’re reading too much into it and trying to make a point that isn’t there.