mental illness and drugs
theMENT. MENTAL ILLNES AND DRUGS IN FLORIDA: the MENTAL ILLNESS: Miami-Dade County is home to the largest percentage of people with serious mental illnesses (SMI; e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression) of any urban community in the United States. Roughly 9.1% of the population (more than 210,000 individuals) experience SMI, yet fewer than 13% of these individuals receive care in the public mental health system. As a result, law enforcement and correctional officers have increasingly become the lone responders to people in crisis due to untreated mental illnesses. On any given day, the Miami-Dade County Jail houses approximately 1,200 individuals with SMI. This represents approximately 17% of the total inmate population, and costs taxpayers more than $50 million annually. The County jail now serves as the largest psychiatric facility in the State of Florida. CORRELATION BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND DRUGS: Addiction is a common