Hello,

I love seeing people who don’t suffer from disorders trying to tell other people what people with the disorders go through, and what makes them do what they do. I’m here to set an example on how this article is full of crap. I suffer from multiple disorders, Bi-Polar being one of them. Nothing works better to reduce most of the symptoms I suffer from than Marijuana. It clearly isn’t a medication acknowledged by the medical community to help with my disorder, but what do they know? None of them have the disability/ies we do, or have experimented with our medications of choice. The only thing these hypocrites are good at is prescribing pills for everything, and in reality, those pills, which are big business for Big Pharma, hospitals, clinics, doctors, etc…do nothing more than cause more problems, and have more negative side effects than the ones they’re supposed to supress, or treat…that’s a FACT!!! As far as the violence, it has nothing to do with being Bi-Polar, or self medicating with Marijuana, or other substances…it has to do with dumb human beings in general, and their way of interfering in other people’s lives. It pretty much boils down to this…treat me with respect, and you’re treated with respect in return. Save all your wise comments, and attempts at lame humor to get a laugh at my expense to yourself, and you’ll have no problems…end of story! People do not have to be subject to the humor, or interference of others in one’s life! I don’t interfere in other people’s lives, so I expect people not to interfere in mine! The problem here isn’t people with disabilities, or the medications needed to keep them sane…the problem is human ignorance as a whole because we’re not all created equal!

I agree with this. However, some BiPolar people ARE violent. And, when they are STAND BACK. Just ask the therapists of the guy in New York city, named Tarloff, if Bipolar people CAN BE violent or not. I think it boils down in the final analysis to being human. Human CAN BE violent. (Period.)

You know, this reminds me eerily of the Breed Specific Laws that are being passed against dogs of the Pit Bull type. The media has portrayed these dogs as vicious; scum like Michael Vick have brought dogfighting into the limelight (even though 47 of his 51 dogs are now placed in homes; some are certified therapy dogs; the other 4 died of injuries before they could be rescued); and drug dealers abuse and starve them so they can make them aggressive to be “big men.” As a result, despite the fact that for every one dog bite from a Pit Bull-type dog there are 100 from other breeds, it’s the “Pit Bull Attack!” headline that they hype. It sells newspapers. Never mind that they’re known as the “Nanny Dog” because they’re so good with kids; never mind that the dog in your home is sweet-tempered and sleeps in your bed on cold winter nights; if he’s in the city limits in Denver, CO, or Boston, MA, or countless other cities in the US (or anywhere in Germany), he WILL be confiscated and destroyed. So you say, “Go live somewhere else with the dog then.” Well, what happens when they’re banned everywhere? When the breed is extinct? Then what breed is next? Do we ban all dogs eventually, because they have teeth? Generalizations, anyone?

That’s what they’re doing to us. Notice every time someone kills their kids or wife, or shoots up their ex-employer’s place of business, or kills a bunch of co-workers or students, or even celebs who act badly (Mel Gibson), they are “bipolar.” What I’m saying is this: we could end up like the Pit Bulls – banned, regulated, stripped of our civil rights, and controlled; forcibly medicated because we might do something in the future because we’re bipolar, whether or not we’ve ever done anything “crazy” or illegal or violent, just like the above poster said. Think about it.

To prove my point: just scroll over to another question on this site that was asked this very week about “should bipolars have the same privacy rights as anyone else?” 9 of 10 posters vehemently stated that the laws MUST be changed so that bipolar people should have absolutely no control over their finances, their health care decisions, and no doctor-patient confidentiality. They (very nastily, I might add) described their “loved ones,” in derogatory and demeaning terms, and stated that they (spouses, parents, any and all other family members) should have all legal control over them because bipolars are not trustworthy, they destroy lives, they don’t have any control over themselves, don’t know what they’re doing (and their doctors refuse to tell these “well meaning” family members all of the bipolar patient’s business just to be nasty). With ideas like this out there, hey, it just might could happen. Take note of certainmind’s post – that’s the first thing s/he brought up, a violent individual. Just like people who will bring up Vick or some other Pit Bull attack when they see your dog. Generalizations. Get the TAC on their side, and we’re all doomed for the ovens.

Jill. I think you may be on to something with your “pit bull” comparison. I first hand, saw the devastation of a pit bull attack, and the devastation that a psychotic bipolar can produce. Pit bulls, are animals, and their owners need to be held accountable for their care. Bipolars are human, but who is responsible for their care when they are psychotic? Hmmmm. Just wondering.