Colorado suicide rates have increased more than 34% since 1999 and research shows that more than half of those who suffer from mental illness or who committed suicide had not been diagnosed by a professional. Nationwide, the increase was from 10.5 to 13 suicides per 100,000 people, the highest rate recorded in 28 years. In 2015, suicide was the 7th leading cause of death in the United States for men and the 14th leading cause of death for women. The statistics don’t lie, this is a significant issue.

According to the Larimer County Citizens for Mental Health Matters, Larimer County is experiencing unprecedented growth in mental health crises. Suicide has doubled in Larimer County since 2009 and the county continues to have the highest suicide rates in the nation. A representative of Summitstone Health Partners, Fred Garcia, stated, “In 2017, we had 41,000 people suffering from some kind of mental illness.. We had 30,000 people who had some sort of substance abuse issue. Of that number, 26,000 people did not have access to treatment.”

Larimer County residents need to look at this issue as a disease: A disease that kills people and ruins lives. It cannot be thrown under the rug anymore. Ignorance cannot be tolerated.

Currently, 1 in 4 people suffer from mental illness, amounting to over 450 million people around the world, and these are just people who are diagnosed. This affects all of us. Ballot Issue 1A in Larimer County is a solution to this issue. It is a citizen-based initiative to increase mental health and behavioral care that asks voters for .00025 percent sales tax increase, which means 25 cents more for every $100 spent. The funds will be put towards mental health services and new facilities all around Larimer County.

Saving a life and spreading awareness is worth the 25 cents. This bill has been proposed previously and didn’t pass. It is hard to believe since the last official review of it in 2016, the rates of suicide and undiagnosed mental illness have gone up and still there is no change. It is now put to voters again this election season. There could be many reasons for this and now is the time to take action.

It is 2018 and some people still consider mental health a weakness. Although the exact cause of mental illness is unclear, it is becoming apparent that many of the conditions are caused by uncontrollable factors such as genetics, biological combinations, psychological tendencies, and environmental factors, and not personal weakness or a character defect, but an undiagnosed chemical imbalance in a person’s brain. It’s an illness and the community has the opportunity to help hurting, sick people.

I know that if I could vote for this in November, I would vote yes for Ballot Issue 1A. We can only see positive results from this bill being passed. I encourage those of you who can vote to vote yes on Ballot Issue 1A.