NATIONAL
ALLIANCE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL (NAMI) BECOMES
"UNGLUED"....
...OR SHOULD WE SAY NAMI IS
IN A STICKY SITUATION?
NAMI
GLUES TOGETHER PAGES TO TRY TO CENSOR ARTICLES
IN TWO ISSUES OF ITS OWN JOURNAL.
THE
FIRED JOURNAL EDITOR SAYS, "IT IS CENSORSHIP! I
WILL NEVER KOWTOW TO A DICTATORSHIP!"
USE
YOUR E-MAIL TO STICK IT TO CENSORSHIP! PLEASE
COPY THIS NEWS FAR AND WIDE *NOW*!
SACRAMENTO,
CALIFORNIA -- The National Alliance for the
Mentally Ill claims it is "The Nation's Voice on Mental
Illness." But NAMI is suppressing, gagging and firing
a brave voice speaking up for human rights.
NAMI has published
a slick magazine called _The JOURNAL_
for 11 years, through its California chapter.
In a public e-mail yesterday, editor Dan E. Weisburd
said that the newly-elected NAMI-California board
of directors has "knowingly killed" _The JOURNAL_,
censored his articles, and fired him.
AND THEN THE
STORY GETS REALLY WEIRD...
The
NAMI-California board has openly admitted it is now
using glue to stick together the pages of articles
by Weisburd in two recent issues. The glue is
a desperate censorship attempt. But the sticky ain't
stayin' stuck. NAMI used rubber cement. NAMI members
who are outraged by the censorship are gleefully
reporting they are able to peel back pages and
peak inside to read the taboo articles.
Once more, NAMI
leaders' blind faith in a "chemical quick
fix" is producing a side effect: Resistance. Said
Weisburd, "Typical of their ineptitude, they didn't
even do a good glue job."
The un-sticky glue
may be a sign of in-house rebellion. In
a truly disgusting twist, NAMI made "mental health clients"
at a vocational rehabilitation program, Turning Point,
apply the glue. It's unknown who chose the glue.
WHAT IS NAMI
TRYING TO HIDE NOW?
What were
Weisburd's sins? First, he challenged in print
the patron saint of some NAMI leaders. Weisburd
questioned fraudulent statistics spouted by extremist
psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey. Torrey is one
of the main champions of increasing the use of involuntary
psychiatric drugging of people, even those
living at home out in the community. Second, Weisburd
wrote about the need for better physical medical
attention for people taking prescribed psychiatric
drugs, including his own son.
Heading up glue
brush brigade is Brian Jacobs, president
of NAMI-CA board. Jacobs is married to Carla
Jacobs, who recently led the crusade to lobby for
AB 1800 in the California Assembly. AB 1800 would
have made it easier to commit Californians, and
made it possible to involuntarily drug them in their
own homes. Hundreds of mental health consumers,
psychiatric survivors, mental health workers,
family members and advocates united to stop the
Jacobs. AB 1800 was crushed in July 2000.
What the Jacobs
can't win through voting they want
to smother with glue. And the Jacobs label _us_ "mentally
ill"? Is this what "normal" looks like?
***
EASY FREE E-MAIL ACTION YOU CAN TAKE ***
COPY THIS NEWS
TO ALL APPROPRIATE PLACES ON AND OFF THE INTERNET -- YOUR
E-MAIL CAN MAKE THIS CENSORSHIP BACKFIRE!
More actions are at the bottom of this alert.
BELOW ARE EXCERPTS
from Dan E. Weisburd's public e-mail
yesterday to a colleague. Break the silence!
"IT
IS CENSORSHIP! I WILL NEVER
KOWTOW TO A DICTATORSHIP!"
by Dan E. Weisburd
Editor of _The
JOURNAL_ <danburd@aol.com>
You may broadcast
via e-mail what I'm about to tell you
far and wide. In recent years the NAMI California
Board of Directors has gone from being mediocre
to being a malicious absurdity. In the process
I have become a prime target for the simple reason
that I am pro-consumer and pro-patient's rights.
They worship E. Fuller Torrey, MD, who is a good
person but has succumbed to selling involuntary treatment
by branding unmedicated people with mental illness
as violent, and I've pointed out his fallacious
and unsubstantiated statistics.
The simple truth
of the current state of affairs is that
_The JOURNAL_ is no more. Period.
The board of
directors of NAMI California, through its
attorney, has informed me that it has suspended _The
JOURNAL_. In addition they voted to glue shut my
traditional Publisher's Note pages opening the "Mental
Illness and the Law" issue because Brian Jacobs,
the board president, got an attorney to give the
opinion that my calling into question the views of
E. Fuller Torrey, MD (a public person -- published
in _The NY Times_, _Washington Post_, etc.)
could constitute defamation.
Again, showing me
no courtesy, had they have called on
me they could have learned that I had obtained four
authoritative legal opinions to the contrary including
one from a former Harvard Law School professor
who taught First Amendment and defamation law.
Plus, they could have learned that sources cited
by Torrey had told the National Stigma Clearinghouse
that their work in no way substantiated
his claims of 1,000 murders a year by persons
with serious mental illness. My concern was labeling
our people as violent and that that stigma-raiser
was printed, without hesitation or verification
by some of our nation's best newspapers!
True to this
board's form they did not even notify me
of their decision to suspend _The JOURNAL_ until after
the "WELLNESS" issue was off the press. Brian Jacobs,
the board president, upon reading my Publisher's
Note in that issue went to Martha Long, Director
of The Village ISA and Richard Van Horn, her
boss at MHA-LA County and tried to persuade them to
send a letter protesting what I had written. You should
know that I am recognized as the "Godfather of
the Village" and am very proud of it and fond of its
staff, having chaired (1986-8) the California Economic
Development Commission's Task Force on Serious
Mental Illness, which conceptualized the Integrated
Service Agency (ISA) Concept -- The Village
being the first model of that concept. You should
also know that my son, David, is a member of the
ten year old Village, and has been there for almost
three years now, and is employed, happy and doing
well despite his very "voicey" schizophrenia.
When they (Long
and Van Horn) refused to write a critical
letter, and Van Horn even told Jacobs that he
agreed with the thrust of my column -- that good medical
care was needed for our population -- Jacobs nevertheless
went to his attorney and his Executive Committee
and got concurrence to once again glue shut
my Publisher's Note -- this time in the "WELLNESS"
issue, before mailing it out. But, typical
of their ineptitude, they didn't even do a good
glue job. People have been calling me asking why
this was done, and saying it was silly and offensive
and easy to pull apart.
But the event is
not silly. It is censorship.
Perhaps next they
will burn the books (press over runs)
that are in storage and have an approximate $250,000
value when sold at conferences or by mail. That
value belongs to the members of this 501(c)(3) nonprofit
and is not to be taken lightly by those who
accept board responsibility. Few magazines live beyond
three years. _The JOURNAL_ lived 11. I believe
it is now dead, and that they, the board of NAMI
California have knowingly killed it, for reasons
known best to them.
In 1989 when, as
1st Vice president of CAMI, I was given
carte blanch to create a new publication as long
as I raised all the money for it and would not take
liquor or tobacco funds, I took the responsibility
seriously. Over the years I have raised
more than two million dollars to produce the 44
issues contained in the 11 volumes of what has become
_The JOURNAL_, and never was there ever a talk
of censorship. I am very proud of the legacy I leave
behind, and will never kowtow to a dictatorship
-- not in these United States. What sorry
times our family movement has fallen upon, and what
a sad excuse for leadership we have now holding power.
Dan
Dan E. Weisburd
10260 Moorpark Street
Toluca Lake, CA 91602
(818) 769-3252
<danburd@aol.com>
***
OTHER ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE ***
Please keep your
messages to NAMI *civil*.
1. COMPLAIN
ABOUT CENSORSHIP TO NAMI NATIONAL
NAMI national says
this is a state concern. But national
NAMI needs to speak out. The national NAMI board
helped remove executive director Laurie Flynn on
Jan. 1, 2001. They are searching for a new director.
Sample message:
"Please pick a director who speaks out
for freedom, not censorship and forced drugging."
E-mail to NAMI's
national director of public policy Andrew
Sperling at: <andrew@nami.org>
NAMI's toll free
help line 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) extension 2.
Other NAMI
national contact information: http://www.nami.org/poc.htm
2. COMPLAIN
ABOUT CENSORSHIP TO NAMI CALIFORNIA
E-mail to: <namica@pacbell.net>
If you'd like,
copy complaints to NAMI California to both
Dan Weisburd at <danburd@aol.com>
and Support Coalition at
<office@mindfreedom.org>
NAMI CALIFORNIA
phone: (916) 567-0163
(They still have
copies of the glued "censored JOURNAL": "Mental
Illness and the Law" and "Wellness" are
available from NAMI
California for $10 a copy. Or $55 for 10 copies.)
3. JOIN SUPPORT
COALITION INTERNATIONAL
Support Coalition
International speaks out about human
rights in the "mental health system." SCI's journal
_Dendron_ doesn't censor human rights news! Information
below on how to join. Tell NAMI their censorship
inspired you to join Support Coalition!
DENDRITE is a public Internet alert system about human rights in psychiatry, sponsored by Support Coalition International, sending out notices to thousands of concerned people, many of whom take ACTION NOW!
Support Coalition International is an independent non-profit federation of more than 70 groups in 11 countries united to WIN campaigns for human rights in the "mental health system." For info on Support Coalition, see the web site:
www.efn.org/~dendron
