Therapy Advocates Continue Fight Against Chinese Inattention to Mental Health Concerns
January 8th, 2010
Though the man accused of attempting to smuggle several kilograms of heroin into China has been executed by the state despite the pleas of his family and British political leaders, some people in the mental health communities worldwide are continuing their calls for reconsideration of mental health issues within China. Critics of the execution point to a lack of assessment by or consultation from a mental health professional, and note that those grappling with related concerns may not represent their difficulties to courts with accuracy.
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I had been following this case in the news and yes, China really needs to reconsider its policy… not a policy actually, but they just need to learn to consult professionals in the field before passing a judgement in such cases.
If the man was bipolar and untreated for several years as this article surmises, the fault lies with the British medical system. That’s the country where he lived his whole life. China cannot be blamed for him falling through the cracks of the UK’s NHS — if that is what really happened. I cannot drum up any sympathy for drug couriers when they get caught. That was no small amount he was carrying. I believe he would have known the risks full well.
Some countries like Mlaysia have laws that give death to drug smugglers… If China does it there is nothing much wrong in the same…
Why do we assume that advocating that China do the right thing is going to make them change how they handle situations like this? This is a very close minded government that we are talking about here, one that really does not seem to have much of an interest in taking suggestionss from yhr Western world about how they should run their country. It is sad that this happened, but we don’t go around asking for their help when we face these scenarios at home, and I hardly think that they are going to be doing the same thing anytime soon either.
Come on! he broke the law- what were they supposed to do? Not the most humane treatment, but when you go around breaking laws in other countries, you have to know that the outcome may not be pretty!
Well this is nothing if not a wake up call to those who are trying to get away with doing bad things yet hoping not to have to pay the consequences for their actions. I think that it is terrible that a country with a population the size of China or any country for that matter would choose not to allow someone to live and would totally disregard their mental health status at the time. But it is kind of like when in Rome. . . you have to obey the rules no matter where you are. Get a real job and don’t take chances doing stupid stuff you should not be doing anyway.
With all of that said cases like this are typically the ones that make people open their eyes to the injustices taking place in countries not their own so hopefully even though there was a loss of life we can all learn something from this so that a tragedy of this magnitude will not happen again.
If the person had mental health issues, then what was he doing with such a large consignment of drugs in the first place? If they had pardoned him off, then people would take advantage of such a ruling and use people to smuggle drugs. And China is not a country which will take things lying down. It is stern and it shows in its actions, which I think were right, in this case atleast.
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