New Mexico lawmakers put foot down on PTSD spending

It is about time someone put an end to all this wasted money. Simple as that. Shocked that I would say that? Then you haven't been paying much attention to the outcome of all the money that has been spent already. There has been no accountability. No one seemed interested in making sure our veterans got the best out of what they were doing. It was almost as if as long as lawmakers were seen as doing something, everyone would be happy. The results have been anything but happy for far too many veterans and their families. It is time they got serious about finding what works best, proven to work best and not just buying into what some people claim. After all, we're talking about over 40 years of research into PTSD. Our veterans deserve better than "better than nothing."

NM lawmakers scuttle bill for PTSD program
Las Cruces News
By Milan Simonich
POSTED: 11/15/2013

SANTA FE >> State legislators killed a bill Friday that would have created a pilot project in southern New Mexico to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The same bill cleared the state House of Representatives last winter on a 70-0 vote before dying in the Senate.

This time, nobody on the Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee voted to endorse the bill.

It called for the pilot project using virtual reality treatments to be based at Western New Mexico University in Silver City. The program would have been tied to therapist training and a master's degree program in social work.

A draft of the bill called for $250,000 in state funding each year from 2015 through 2018. The sponsor, Rep. Dianne Hamilton, R-Silver City, said the amount would have been lower.

State Sen. William Payne, R-Albuquerque, challenged the proposal. He said PTSD treatments should be linked to the medical school at the University of New Mexico, not a social work program downstate.

Payne also said the program would serve the greatest number of veterans if it were in Albuquerque. About one-third of the state's population of 2 million is in the Albuquerque area.

If the bill had any chance, it ended when Timothy Hale, cabinet secretary of the state Department of Veterans' Services, spoke against it.

"This is a waste of money," Hale told the committee.
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