Priorities, people

This morning, I signed an online petition calling on NC’s Division of Medical Assistance to reconsider its decision to stop paying for Community-based Rehabilitative Services (CBRS) for children age three and under who have some sort of developmental delay. As the petition states:

There is mountains of research and evidence… that early intervention increases the developmental and educational gains for the child, improves the functioning of the family, and reaps long-term benefits for society.

Then there was the piece in today’s N&O that says the state is capping enrollment into its drug assistance program for HIV patients at the current level, meaning low-income people not currently in the program will not have access to the expensive life-saving drugs they need. This sentence in particular caught my attention:

Last year, state legislators allocated $11 million for AIDS drug assistance – about half of what had previously been budgeted, [Jacquelyn Clymore, head of the state’s HIV/STD Prevention and Care branch] said.

That reminded me of a front-page article in the N&O in December that said the state could save $11 million a year by ending the death penalty. The report cites a Duke University study that found the state wastes millions in seeking – not in the implementation, just in the actual pursuit of – the death penalty. In the article, Rep. Paul Stam argued that the death penalty is a crime deterrent, even though decades of research proves otherwise.

So in the end, money that could be used to help children overcome their disabilities or keep people alive will instead be used by the state to pursue the opportunity to kill someone.