Roger McMurtry knows how hard it is to fight for a piece of the state’s financial pie – especially when he’s fighting for people who don’t always have a strong voice themselves.

&uot;It’s hard to be against mental health, but when they get to divvying up the pie …&uot; McMurtry said, &uot;we just don’t have alumni associations like the universities do.&uot;

But McMurtry, head of the state Bureau of Mental Health, believes state approval of seven regional mental health centers are &uot;a move in the right direction&uot; for Mississippi’s overworked mental health system.

Last year, the Legislature approved $17.5 million to construct the centers, which are know as crisis stabilization, or crisis intervention, centers.

Often, the mentally ill often have to wait weeks for beds to become available at a state hospital, so the crisis centers will serve as temporary holding places for people waiting for a spot, McMurtry said. Often people are held in jail or sent home until a bed becomes available.

McMurtry said all of the centers should be open within two years. They will be located at Corinth, Newton, Laurel, Grenada, Cleveland, Brookhaven and Batesville.

Each will be equipped with 16 beds and one sick bed.

The state is also making plans to build eight more of the centers over the next five years. Natchez is one of 25 locations the state is considering, McMurtry said.

The goal is for all 15 centers to be open to patients who admit themselves voluntarily, but many of the initial placements may be court ordered, he said

The state is also adding a 160-bed long-term service program in Newton and a 50-bed adolescent program in Harrison County.

McMurtry knows a large number of people are on the waiting lists for state hospitals, but according to his statistics that number has dropped over the past 10 years.

He makes monthly phone calls to state facilities to get updates on the number they have waiting.

In 1995, there were an average of 23 people on waiting lists being held in jails and 55 people waiting at other types of treatment centers.

In 1999, that average dropped to only 10 being held in jail and 59 people being held at other types of centers.

Adams County has five people on its waiting list for treatment for either mental, alcohol or substance abuse, said Chancery Clerk Tommy O’Beirne. Chancery court handles the placement of patients at the state hospital.

The most recent person was added to Adams County’s waiting list last week for drug abuse treatment. In a call to the state hospital in Whitfield on that person’s behalf, the wait was reported at least eight to 10 weeks, according to court records.

McMurtry said these numbers tend to fluctuate seasonally and increase around the holidays.

He attributes the drop in the number of those being held in jail to new medications and the construction of two new state hospitals, North Mississippi State Hospital and Tupelo and South Mississippi State Hospital in Hattiesburg.