Joel Fort (1929-2015) was an American psychiatrist known for his social and political advocacy, including support for cannabis legalization. Fort spent his professional career in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he founded the nonprofit mental health center Fort Help. He testified as an expert witness in more than 300 criminal trials, including Patty Hearst's bank robbery trial.[1][2]
Early life and education edit
Fort was born in Steubenville, Ohio on September 30, 1929 to parents of Russian Jewish descent. His father worked odd jobs during the Great Depression before becoming a podiatrist, and his mother was a pianist, homemaker, and speech therapist. Fort attended public schools in Steubenville, and began college at Ohio State University at age 15, completing pre-medical coursework and graduating with a bachelor's degree in English and philosophy at 18. He studied clinical psychology at the University of Chicago before returning to Ohio State University for medical school.[2][3]
Upon graduating from medical school in 1954, Fort joined the United States Public Health Service. He served two years of his residency at the Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, a federal prison hospital, formerly known as the U.S. Narcotic Farm, which focused on drug rehabilitation.[3][4] While living in Lexington, he helped found a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.[1] He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to complete the last year of his psychiatric residency at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley.[3]
Career and advocacy edit
From 1960-1964, Fort directed Alameda County's state-funded Center on Alcoholism. In 1962, he was dismissed from this position by the county Board of Supervisors because of his off-hours political activity, serving on a committee for the reelection of Governer Pat Brown. At the time, the county charter prohibited civil service employees such as Fort from any participation in political affairs. He contested the dismissal in court, and in 1964 won the Supreme Court of California case Fort v. Civil Service Commission of County of Alameda, a unanimous decision affirming the right of California civil servants to participate in political activity on their own time.[3][5]
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Bibliography edit
- The Pleasure Seekers: The Drug Crisis, Youth and Society (Grove Press, 1969)
- Attitudes of Mental Health Professionals toward Homosexuality and Its Treatment (with Claude Steiner and Florence Conrad, Psychological Reports, 1971)
- Alcohol: Our Biggest Drug Problem (McGraw Hill, 1973)
- American Drugstore: Alcohol to Valium (Little, Brown, & Co., 1975)
- Youth: Drugs, Sex and Life (Yearbook Medical Publishers, 1976)
- The Addicted Society: Pleasure-Seeking and Punishment Revisited (Grove Press, 1981)
- To Dream the Perfect Organization (with Lothar Salin, Third Party Publishing Co., 1981)
References edit
- ^ a b Perlman, David (29 August 2015). "Joel Fort, psychiatrist who campaigned against orthodoxy, dies". SFGATE. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
- ^ a b Chawkins, Steve (28 August 2015). "Joel Fort dies at 86; iconoclastic psychiatrist testified in Patty Hearst case". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
- ^ a b c d Joel Fort: Public health Pioneer, Criminologist, Reformer, Ethicist & Humanitarian. Regional Oral History Office. 1997. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Susan Stryker (July 23, 1997). "Joel Fort Interview" (PDF). GLBT Historical Society. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Supreme Court of California (May 28, 1964). "Fort v. Civil Service Commision of County of Alameda". FindLaw. Retrieved 15 October 2022.