I’ve gotten gratifying e-mails like this one about my syndicated column from today. Allowing obviously sick people to rot on our streets and in our jails is one of the great public-policy scandals of our time.

“Mr. Lowry,

I applaud your piece on mental illness. I know from very difficult experience that denial and rejection of medication are endemic to brain disorders in many people. The irony is cruel, not only to victims of illness but also to those who love them. Because of laws designed to protect rights of the psychotic, those of us who yearn to help cannot do so. The dilemma produces not only the tragedies on display in the steets but also private crises in families of sick people.”