I personally hate meds......I hated the side effects that pushed me into anorexia (good old prozac), or the parkinson's side effect where I couldn't even feed myself or walk myself into the bathroom, or even lay comfortably in bed (the combination or thorzine Pdoc thought it would help with the stress of going through surgery at the time along with compozine from the nausea caused by my constant migraines).....or course, I have side effects to even Benedryl & antibiotics & when I was in the hospital with asthma, one of the meds they gave me caused me to completely loose my voice. One med that one of my pdocs gave me in the hospital caused my joints to not work....I couldn't even sit up in bed or walk after that one & not sure what it was....but they had to give me a shot to counteract that side effect.

I am definitely not pro-meds.....HOWEVER, when I was followed for 40 miles by a guy on the California freeways who after the police came to deal with him after he was taken down by mace in the street because he wouldn't leave the guard station we drove to, said that he knew me & then claimed that the he was the cause of the Viet Nam war. He had just been released from the mental hospital associated with the jail the day before. How do we know which person with mental illness will be a problem to society? Do we wait & find out? I believe in working with those who feel that taking meds is not what they want to do as long as they haven't already proven themselves to be a problem to society or they feel the need to take a weapon with them out into society to protect them from their perceived enemy.

If a person's mental illness has no dangerous tendencies, then the choice of meds or not seems appropriate.....otherwise.....I think there are some that prove the need for meds....it's either that or keep them locked up & away from society. It doesn't seem fair to keep those who are dangerous locked up when meds could make a huge difference in their life.....but then in reality......that also should be their choice not ours. There are always consequences for our actions & choices.....that's just a fact of life.

Lots of sides to this issue.