It seems ironic that getting help for Mississippi’s mentally ill should be so difficult. But it is difficult — and nearly impossible — for hundreds of state residents who are mentally ill and cannot take advantage of private treatment programs.

These residents, most of whom are eligible for treatment at the state’s mental hospital Whitfield, often wait 10 weeks or more for admission to the facility. And that wait can be deadly — for the patient or for other people.

Just ask the family of Roy Dunigan, whose third attempt at suicide proved successful in 1998. He had waited nine weeks for a spot to open at Whitfield.

As the national media turns its spotlight on Mississippi’s inadequate mental health system next month, our state lawmakers lag behind in providing real solutions to this real — and painful –&160;problem.

Although the Legislature approved the construction of seven regional mental health centers which can serve as interim care facilities, these centers weren’t funded until the 2000 legislative session. And, their completion is still two years away.

The $17.5 million state lawmakers allocated for the seven centers — which will provide only a total 119 beds — is a pittance compared to the longterm costs to the state from the additional retirement benefits lawmakers approved for themselves in the same session.

The lawmakers sneaked the retirement perk into a bill laced with improvements for state employees’ retirement packages, and after a statewide uproar the chagrined lawmakers are headed back in a special session to reconsider the retirement perk issue.

Those lawmakers should be equally ashamed of their lack of funding for additional mental health facilities in the state. No one should have to charge his wife with a crime, just so she can be admitted to a county jail and kept &uot;safe&uot; for a few days while waiting for treatment. Nor should a family be forced to watch helplessly as a depression victim spirals into suicide as he waits for help.

Getting help isn’t supposed to be this difficult. But in Mississippi, our state officials are not doing enough to make the process any easier.