(CALMATTERS) – Californians with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders — including but not limited to those who are homeless — could be compelled into treatment by courts and offered supportive housing and wraparound services under a long-awaited proposal Newsom unveiled Thursday. The plan, called CARE Court, would mandate all 58 counties participate — unlike another program, Laura’s Law, that requires counties to opt in before families can access legal tools to force their severely mentally ill relatives into treatment, CalMatters’ Jocelyn Wiener reports. But many aspects of CARE Court — which at this point is little more than a policy framework and would need legislative approval in order to become law — remain unclear.
“There are a million questions and a million things that could go wrong.”
Kevin Baker, director of governmental relations for ACLU California Action
Indeed, other bold Newsom proposals have yet to achieve their stated goals, according to a Thursday investigation from Kaiser Health News that found some of the governor’s “ambitious ideas — such as requiring California to make its own insulin and forging drug partnerships across state lines — have failed to get off the ground or haven’t produced the hefty savings he promised.”
Meanwhile, California stands to gain $486 million to fund opioid addiction and treatment if a court approves a nationwide $6 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its founding family, the Sacklers, for causing the country’s opioid crisis, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday.