I truly feel sorry that Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered in cold blood by their own son. It doesn’t matter to me that I did not agree with Reiner’s politics.
Besides being a severe drug addict, Reiner’s son had been in drug rehab some 18 times in his life. It makes one wonder if the therapy protocols were any good or if he was, in fact, incorrigible. I was surprised that Reiner and his wife practiced tough love to some extent as they allowed their son to be homeless at some point in his life because of his poor choices and coping skills. I have spoken to several recovered drug addicts; they believe that hitting rock bottom was what saved them.
However, instead of hitting rock bottom, things got worse; it has been reported that Reiner’s son had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. This mental disease is extremely difficult to treat. Supposedly, his doctors were adjusting his meds, and it made him worse. A significant number of the drugs used to treat mentally ill people can make them violent including inflicting self-harm on themselves and harming others. Obviously, not all people diagnosed as mentally ill are violent. But some are and their arrest records prove it. In fact, a significant number of school shooters and other mass murderers were on such drugs.
This brings up a stunning failure in our society as it relates to the mentally ill with long arrest records and little to no time served. That is, we don’t know how to deal with these ticking time bombs. Rob Reiner is reported to have told several friends that he was afraid his son would harm him and his wife.
Yet, what could he do about his fear?
We have seen one murder after another in our society, often in broad daylight and in public places, wherein somebody with a very long history of mental illness and criminal acts has been allowed to roam free on our streets creating one victim after another. Iryna Zarutska comes to mind. She was the Ukrainian refugee murdered on a light rail line in North Carolina by a suspect who had been arrested some 14 times in his life and who had served time in prison. According to his mother, around the time he was in prison he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. His parents tried to get him some help, but our system, except for some temporary holds, won’t force anybody into treatment until after they have committed a heinous crime. This is a nightmare for the families of the mentally ill, not to mention the victims of their crimes.
Drug Abuse as a Public Health and Safety Issue
It has been reported that the night before Reiner and his wife were murdered, they were at a Hollywood party. It was obvious to several of the guests that Reiner’s son was out of control. These guests wanted to call in cops and mental health professionals and have him temporarily committed but supposedly the host – former late-night TV comic Conan O’Brien – refused. Reiner is dead because of the recalcitrance of the partygoers to call the authorities. Reiner is also dead because we don’t have the will to deal with the mentally ill unless and until they commit such crimes. We need to revisit institutionalizing these people before more victims are hurt, or worse, murdered.
Another issue we need to deal with is how is it that our society is producing so many people that have mental health issues. As it turns out, just as we don’t force any type of institutionalization on people dealing with severe mental health problems, neither do we treat drug users as criminals. Yet, drug use is surely a public health and safety issue.
The following charts are taken from this website
This chart demonstrates that a significant source of mental illness has to do with drug use. Furthermore, the prevalence of mental illness is also a function of age, including an age rife with experimentation and fraught with obvious lifelong consequences:
It is painfully obvious that people who are experimenting with, or routinely taking drugs, are playing a game of Russian roulette with their lives and their loved ones, along with members of the public who end up having to deal with the ramifications and consequences of their actions and choices. Our society is paying a steep price for its pursuit of tolerance.
Will we ever learn?
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