Whitney Houston and Psychiatric Drugs – Xanax

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/xanax-whitney-houston_b_1288122.html

A post by Peter Breggin:

Often when I think about how much I love my wife, Ginger, I wish I could sing to her. But I cannot sing. Instead, I imagine Whitney Houston singing to Ginger in her incredible soaring voice. Whitney became the voice expressing how much I love my wife. That is how much Whitney came to mean to so many of us who knew her only through her music. She became the music about love we carry in our hearts.

Whitney’s passing has raised the specter that she was taking the benzodiazepine Xanax (alprazolam) at the time she died.

If it turns out that Whitney was under the influence of Xanax (alprazolam), then there’s a good chance she would be alive today if that drug had never been put on the market.

Although Xanax is the most commonly prescribed benzodiazepine, and in my experience the most dangerous, the same harmful effects can be caused by all benzodiazepines, including Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, Serax, Halcion, Dalmane, and Halcion. When I address Xanax, I’m also talking about all of these drugs.

Reports that Xanax and other benzos are not usually lethal when taken alone are vastly misleading. Xanax is rarely taken alone. Why? Because as much or more than any other prescribed drug, Xanax causes medication spellbinding. It corrupts judgment, memory and self-control, so that individuals have no idea how badly they are being impaired. Eventually it erodes all mental faculties, often without the person fully grasping this loss of function. The impairment of judgment and self-control causes people to overdose on drugs or alcohol without intending to, leading to coma, cardiovascular collapse and death. The Xanax-induced memory impairment causes them to forget how many pills or how much alcohol they have already taken, again increasing the lethal risk.

Xanax has been called “alcohol in a pill” because its effects are so similar to alcohol. However, as will be documented, Xanax can be far more dangerous than alcohol. It should not be prescribed to patients with alcohol problems, because it becomes a powerful impetus for alcohol abuse.

At critical moments in their lives when individuals are suffering from serious emotional problems, their ability to deal with them is further compromised as a result of Xanax-induced medication spellbinding and cognitive deficits. In acute distress, they often have no idea what is happening to them. They have no idea how impaired they have become, they forget what they’ve already taken, or increase the dose, or increase or add other medications or alcohol.

Filed under: adverse drug reactions, medication, psychiatric drugs, psychotropic drugs, Sudden Death, Whitney Houston, Xanax, Benzodiazepines, Benzos, Healthy Living News, mental health, Overdose, Peter Breggin, Prescription Drug Abuse, prescription drugs, Prozac, Psychiatric Drug Abuse, Ssri Antidepressants, SSRIs, Whitney Houston, Xanax, Xanax Whitney Houston

Taking Antidepressants During Pregnancy Doubles Baby’s Risk of Heart Defect

http://www.naturalnews.com/028202_antidepressants_heart_defects.html

(NaturalNews) Women who take certain antidepressant drugs while pregnant may double their child’s risk of being born with a certain variety of heart defect, according to a study conducted by researchers from Aarhaus University in Denmark and published in the medical journal BMJ.

“Anyone who is pregnant or considering becoming pregnant and has any concerns about the treatment for depression should speak to their doctor,” said Cathy Ross of the British Heart Foundation.

Researchers compared the risk of birth defects in 1,370 children born to women who took at least one selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) while pregnant with the risk in 400,000 other children whose mothers had not taken any SSRIs while pregnant. They found that the drugs fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac), sertraline (marketed as Zoloft) and citalopram (marketed as Celexa) all significantly increased the risk that a child would be born with a defect in the septum, which separates the right and left halves of the heart.

Septum defects include a variety of conditions from minor blood vessel problems to outright holes in the heart. The researchers found that one extra septum defect would develop for every 246 pregnant women taking an SSRI during the time period from 28 days before through 112 days after conception.

Taking more than one SSRI drastically increased the risk of septum defects. While the risk of the defects was 0.5 percent in mothers not taking the drugs and 0.9 percent in those taking one drug (an 80 percent increase), it was 2.1 percent in mothers taking two or more (a more than 300 percent increase).

Sertraline appeared to increase the risk more than citalopram or fluoxetine did.

The study is not the first linking SSRIs to birth defects. Previous research has found a link between the drugs and defects of the heart and of other bodily systems.

Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com; www.telegraph.co.uk.

Filed under: anitdepressants and pregnancy, antidepressant side effects, antidepressants, antidepressants during pregnancy, antidepressants during pregnancy studies, Birth Defects, birth defects caused by antidepressant, causes for birth defects, Celexa, heart defects, Pregnancy, Zoloft, antidepressants, Celexa, doubled risk, heart defects, Pregnancy, Prozac, Zoloft

Reflecting On 2009 by Kim Crespi

Reflecting on 2009 ~ Onward to 2010~

I went looking for a jail/prison to include in my Christmas Village which was started for me by my mom’s death and the passing on of pieces.  What village wouldn’t be complete without magical lighted replicas of what has come to be our normal lives?  So, in my search, I wondered if I couldn’t find a jail/prison (not a huge market for these in the magical villages…) if perhaps a bank could be modified.  No such piece was found…what was found was a St. Joseph Chapel, with a lovely welcoming door and soft alluring lights within and, of course, a steeple with a simple cross to state the mission.  O.K.  I get it…it’s where we began and made our promises to God and to each other. A Chapel is friendlier than a prison in the lights of life, more pleasant to look at with meanings beyond the darkness and the hard, harsh realities of every day.  A new piece is added and the beauty of the village is enhanced…another year…more reality but for a moment the lights and the love strengthen us all…onward beyond the lighted village to the world. Oh yeah…I added a lighthouse too…it just seemed right.

One of the books I am reading is Dr. Peter Breggin’s newest book entitled “Wow, I’m an American!” in which Dr. Breggin (Harvard-trained psychiatrist and best-selling author and such a inspirational voice in our world) gives us a new approach to the lives of our Founders and the principles of freedom, responsibility, gratitude and love that they embraced. It is not a long or heavy book but still, I seem to be taking the longest time with it.  I don’t know a lot about America’s history, this book is helping me.  I feel like I’m savoring every word, committing it to memory and pondering.  It’s hard for me because I feel like the America I’m living in has been so harsh in punishing us for the responsible lives we were living the day of our tragedy.  David and I were doing everything most would think is humanly responsible regarding our overall healthcare and for that responsibility, we are being punished greatly and severely.  This is not the America I thought I lived in but is what we are experiencing.  I asked Dylan (our son) who is a very bright teenager and he loves history, how he could know so much about history and retain it all.  He looked at me with bewilderment and said that he could not imagine knowing so little about history. He does answer all my questions for which I am grateful. The future belongs to such as these if we can help them through the trauma and keep their hearts and minds focused on love and light in this life.

January 20, 2010, will mark the 4 year anniversary of a very horrific day for this family and many others.  The things we couldn’t understand on that day have become clearer in time.  What we suspected was that doctor-prescribed-psych drugs were the cause of psychotic behavior resulting in the killings of our most precious Tessara and Samantha.  What didn’t make sense was the lack of people pursuing the truth of why David would do something so out of character.  This lack of pursuit by our society continues to this day.  Still, much has come to light regarding the reasons why so few here in America would make a stand and why people, like David, remain wrongly imprisoned.  Our American Systems are designed to evaluate cause and not only the events.

A situation in Canada has been brought to our attention and we would like to share it will you.  A man named David Carmichael had a similar tragedy in 2004. In a psychotic state due to Paxil, he killed his 11-year old son.  He was arrested, stood trial and was found “Not criminally responsible” on account of a mental disorder diagnosed as “major depression” with “Psychotic episodes.”  He spent 5 years in the mental hospital and is now home with his wife and daughter rebuilding their lives.  He received an absolute discharge from even the mental health care system in December of this year.  His story and all the good he is currently involved in can be read at www.DavidCarmichael.com.  He went to the mental home full of despair.  His trial did not focus on the medication reactions he had experienced.  The mental health professionals at the mental home were the agents that helped show David in his despair that his medication was responsible for the psychosis.  With this information, David was able to heal and devise a treatment program that helped him resume his life even with the sadness of the side effects that hurt his family so very much. Paxil (versus Prozac for us) was the SSRI that dealt the deadly blow to David Carmichael’s free will and responsible behavior.

The David Crespi situation took, from minute one, a very different path.  Not much apparent action was taken by the State of North Carolina to provide care for David in a mental home even with the support of family and friends and lack of understanding of what had happened.  Punishment, extreme punishment in the form of the death penalty, was sought from the beginning.  The Criminal justice system did not ask for testimony from David’s psychiatrist and he was allowed to leave town without a word to us.  David, in a completely drugged state, accepted a plea, encouraged by his lawyers, and was sentenced to 2 life sentences running back to back.  The Department of Correction web site notes that his second sentence begins 1/2/9999 that is after his first sentence ends in death.

So, this is where we are after 4 years of the saddest tragedy to rock our world.  David is in prison and so many, so content that this didn’t happen to them, have been able to go on with their lives.  Prison is not the appropriate place for a man “not criminally responsible” and who was previously under the spell binding power of psych drugs.  David is being punished every day of his life for doing what was considered responsible up until the moment the dangerous side effects took over.  He was working as an auditor for Wachovia with a considerable amount of stress with all the issues surrounding Wachovia at the time of the tragedy.  David went to the doctor due to a lack of being able to rest well.  As is the current common practice, medication was prescribed without any note or monitoring of side effects.  This medication led to more sleeplessness, then anxiety (a side effect of the sleeping medication) and then depression (another side effect of sleep aids and anxiety medication).  One thing led to another, mental health care professionals were consulted and involved, and after 7 days of Prozac, psychosis took over.  Free will was impaired and irrational, dangerous thinking resulted in the worst of horrors for all including and especially, David. What else could have we done to help ourselves?  Some would add that David could have been honest with deep dark thoughts but the media has built that up and into something it never was.  David was told in therapy that these thoughts were part of depression.  Darkness and light intermingle without clear distinction.

So David is guilty of being a responsible person and seeking help and for that responsibility and while we are experiencing the greatest losses, the State of North Carolina, specifically Mecklenburg County, was allowed to ask for his death.  More layers of tragedy and not one step closer to reconciliation or restoration.  And we, as his society, allowed this to happen.  I don’t understand this but every day live with the consequences.  When is the truth going to mean something right here in Mecklenburg?  When are people going to wake up to the fact that this could have happened to them and do something about it?

Lately, I have been reading a lot about justice…criminal, biblical, social and restorative.  All lead me to understand about how peace will not be restored without justice being pursued.  The time has long come for the wrongs to be made right.  Indifference abounds.  Many good people do nothing to help.  The world appears darker instead of lighter.  We didn’t pick this road but we are walking it.  We are doing the best we can with the energy given.  God is very real.  I am convinced even more every day that judgment truly is up to God and we may be living in prison but God will reveal the light of truth in the proper time for all.  I love the scripture found in Micah 6:8 of the Bible “You have been told, O Man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you:  Only to do the right (“to do justice” and “to act justly” in other translations) and love goodness (“mercy” and “kindness”), and to walk humbly with your God.”

So where are you as we reflect on 2009 and embrace 2010?  Do you see as God sees? Or are you holding on to what you want to believe about a man that many of you know couldn’t have possibly done the horrific act without some external catalyst?  Is Society really this indifferent and unreasonable?  What can we learn from Canada and David Carmichael and the reasonable outcome he and his family have experienced in spite of the horror of losing their son and the life they knew?

Every prison in North Carolina is different and David has been transferred to more than a few camps this year perhaps because he still speaks up for what is right.  The transfers are done without warning and without knowing where you are going.  Family members need to try to keep up once the move is made and then we look for a blessing…anything helps in trying to find the balance.  He started the year at Lanesboro close security Prison in Polkton.  He had been transferred there in the fall of 2008 when he was experiencing the mania from psych drug withdrawal. This transfer wasn’t to help him as some would like to think.  It was to create an imbalance for all of us just because the system has this power.  Then in June of 2009, David was transferred to Windsor (Bertie Prison) about 5 hours from our home towards the Outer Banks.  Bertie prison is very dangerous and it was not a good living situation but the path and a blessing usually get revealed.  Bertie offered our first visit as a family of 5 (other facilities only allow up to 3 visitors plus the prisoner).  They had vending machines where we could purchase junk food, coffee and sodas during the visit.  This was the only 2 hours in these 4 years that this family has been together and able to share a meal.  We are grateful for those 2 glorious hours and allowed them to carry us into the next visit at that facility which was for 1 hour for the 5 of us with David in protective segregation behind glass because a situation had caused a threat to David’s safety.  That was when the 4 of us took in the sights of the Outer Banks.  Saw a few lighthouses and the wild horses at Corolla.  Cape Hatteras is considered “America’s Lighthouse.”

Soon after that visit, David was transferred to Pasquotank (The Tank) Prison in Elizabeth City which was about 6 hours away.  Since this prison only allowed up to 3 visitors, the boys and I spent a day travelling, visited early one morning and then drove back that day.  It was a long 2 days but we maintain to keep this family together and in communion.  The blessings of the “Tank” included the granting of medium custody status and an opportunity to participate in Catholic services each week.  Catholic services are not provided at most of the other camps David has been housed at.  In October, David was then moved to a medium security facility in Polkton about an hour from our house.  At this facility, Brown Creek Prison, David is housed in a bunk house with 27 other guys. The security isn’t as tight as close security single cell units but he likes the opportunity to get outside a bit more.  Medium security is better in some ways and more dangerous in others.

Mentally, David is doing fine now that the medication has flushed out of his system. He is able to supplement his diet with only fish oil tablets.  He never needed psych medication. David does not have Bipolar Disorder as we were led, by the defense process, to suspect.  When I challenged the diagnosis, it became evident that those conclusions are made with very little objective evaluation. There is no medical test to prove disease.  The medication propelled the psychosis…not an underlying, undiagnosed, condition prior to the tragedy.   We now know that the medication, for us, produced the biggest problems we experienced in every episode of work anxiety experienced from 1994 on to the tragedy of 2006.  What started out each time as an inability to sleep well due to mental unrest, resulted in the most prevalent current treatment by medical doctors and mental healthcare professionals of prescribing and encouraging medication.  Please know that these medications can be very dangerous. They should be a highly monitored last resort and not the first response.  Just think about who is making money every time a prescription gets written and people begin the long process of adjusting to and being maintained on these psych drugs.  Is this the best way to deal with maintaining your overall health defined as being sound in body, mind and spirit?  We no longer buy into that “quick fix” of medication prescribed by many.

The kids are actually doing better than can be expected.  Jessica is 21 and is in her last year in College majoring in Educational Studies…loves it and is looking forward to graduating and working. She has a serious boyfriend that brings her joy.  Dylan at 17 is finishing up his high school requirements as a home schooled student.  He is enjoying the freedom and healing from trauma issues that home schooling offers but is looking forward to college in the fall.  13 year old Joshua is recovering from having his tonsils/adenoids removed this year right before Halloween.  He wasn’t able to breathe well and the removal of those huge adenoids has helped.  He is really enjoying his 8^th grade year in Middle School and seems to have adjusted with great depth to our new life.

Jessica  and I have been working on our overall health with a naturopathic physician.  Some tests were done and it was determined that she and I are gluten intolerant.  Taking Wheat, Rye and Barley out of our diets has been a huge adjustment but with very helpful results.  Jessica, especially, feels so much better.  This is a huge consideration where the conventional doctors choose to recommend the pysch drugs with all the side effects before considering a dietary change.  Again, following the money…who benefits when we change our diet…only us…the consumer…food for thought.

We know that God has a plan for our lives and are all abundantly aware that we are experiencing some of the harsh realities of life on earth.  Heaven is very real and our heavenly lights, Samantha and Tessara, are never far away.  We acquired a new puppy this year and just received the DNA results that show Bailey as a Siberian Husky mixed breed.  She has white fur and brown eyes.  She came to us via a drop off at Belmont Abbey.  She is much loved by all but especially Hunter the Beagle and Dude the long haired cat.

The kids and I visited California during the summer managing to visit all the grandparents and spending a few days in Disneyland.  I drove a rented Ford Flex about 1500 miles from Northern to Southern and then back up to Northern California.  We do love California with all its sights and attractions.  Our roots run deep there and we took some magical moments back to North Carolina.

One of my missions is to help abolish the death penalty. Some of my favorite organizations are:

PFADP – People of Faith Against the Death Penalty – love their mission and work in North Carolina.

MVFHR – Murder Victims Families for Human Rights – worked on a report with them to present stories including ours of when mental illness crosses with the death penalty.  This report was published in 2009 and is called “Double Tragedies.”

MVFR – Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation – participated in a healing retreat weekend with other victims. It was amazing to be with others who have chosen not to ask for death even with the pain.

CrespiFamilyHope.com (not an official organization but has evolved into a cause) will be working on continuing to bring truth to light regarding the side effects of psych drugs and who truly should step forward and be responsible.  And, we will continue to work for a better situation for all those who are wrongly imprisoned without truth and adequate care for the tragedies and trauma suffered.  I was able to again this year attend the annual conference held in New York of Dr. Breggin’s organization, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP).  What a great, refreshing time of interaction with honorable people who understand the self serving interests of the drug companies, FDA and the Media and the resulting impact on unsuspecting doctors (they aren’t all unsuspecting) and patients.

I encourage you to read Dr. Breggin’s 2008 publication “Medication Madness” as it conveys the truth of what we have experienced.  Thank you for your prayers but action is needed as well.  I will try to post helpful information and possible actions on the web site.  I am attending a one day social media conference in January and hope to be up on Facebook and LinkedIn soon.  I will post links on www.CrespiFamilyHope.com.

So that is where we are as we begin 2010.  We see God in the most amazing places.  I feel God in the honor of praying and corresponding specifically with several prisoners.  The world has changed for me.  Earth is harder and harsher than I ever knew before but heaven is real as well.  I have not needed to work outside of the home or beyond the cause, yet. I trust that God will continue to reveal the path each day that takes us from fear to love.  With great hope and solidarity for the imprisoned,

Praying for strength for all of us for the journey ahead in 2010…

Kim and David Crespi, Jessica, Dylan, Joshua and remembering always…Tessara and Samantha

www.CrespiFamilyHope.com
P.O. Box 77844, Charlotte, NC  28271

David Crespi #0938007, Brown Creek Prison, P.O. Box 310, Polkton, NC  28135

Filed under: adverse drug reactions, akathisia, violence, David Crespi, death penalty, drug-induced, justice, Kim Crespi, life sentence, murder, Paxil, Peter Breggin, prison, Prozac

Zoloft Frequently Causes Heart Defects in Babies: BMJ

Another study (this time in the BMJ) finds an increased risk in heart defects, the severity of the risk depending on which SSRI you took. I see no mention of Paxil, which is curious in and of itself. (See: Paxil more powerful teratogen than Cocaine, court documents from the first Paxil birth defect trial, and other related articles concerning this trial on the Seroxat Sufferers blog. By the way, thanks to Fiddy for embedding our @pledgie “Stop Preventable Infant Deaths and Birth Defects” link!)

Also they seem anxious to let other birth defects off the hook and to regard not using SSRIs as not getting treatment. That’s ridiculous considering antidepressants can barely be considered to work at all and that they can actually make you worse and induce violence. How well do they work when your baby dies because of them? Are you supposed to feel happy if you keep taking your drugs?

This study seems to indicate that “about two” babies per 250 women who took an SSRI were born with a heart defect. I assume (though I haven’t read the study yet) that nobody looked at the heart defects leading to abortions or that they were not thinking about the babies who had so many other defects that they died in utero or after birth from some sort of “syndrome.” Probably like in other studies they would have excluded those babies with genetic problems that were linked to heart defects and multiple other defects, without considering if the rate of genetic defects was higher in the SSRI exposed group. If you don’t count all the miscarried babies either and you try to look at each individual type of heart defect and birth defect separately you can pretend the risk is small. But if you group all the risks together the supposed benefit pales in comparison to the risk. We know that antidepressants usually work about as well as a placebo (about one third of people showing mild improvement). But we also know that one third of women who expose their babies to antidepressants have a baby who is born early or underweight, who has seizures, or who dies (“women who take SSRIs have an increased risk of giving birth to a fetus who dies, having a premature delivery, giving birth to an underweight baby, and delivering babies who experience seizures. According to the study almost one-third of women on SSRIs experienced at least one of the complications”). So think about all the risks you would be exposing your baby to and then ask yourself if that’s depressing.

According to just this study, on average about two out of every 250 women taking SSRIs had a baby with a heart defect, compared to about one out of 250 who did not take SSRIs. But the same study said that the risk was more than three times higher with Zoloft than the non-exposed group, more than doubled with Celexa, and almost five times higher with more than one SSRI.

“Sertraline more than tripled the risk, while citalopram more than doubled it. Using more than one SSRI nearly quintupled the risk of the heart defect.”

According to the drug label, 1/100 to 1/1000 is an “infrequent” event, and fewer than 1/1000 is a “rare” event. “Frequent” means it occurs in at least 1/100 patients or more.

Two out of 250 is the same as .8 people per 100, or .008. That’s pretty close to bordering on the drug companies’ version of “frequent.” It’s definitely not in the rare category. But with Sertraline (Zoloft) it would be .012 or 1.2 babies per 100 babies, well into the frequent reaction zone. This is just one study and it’s hard to say without having read the whole thing how they came up with their results or what type of heart defect they looked at. I will update more later as I have time to do more research.

To see reports to the FDA of birth defects and deaths with psychiatric drug exposure go here: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/MothersAct.html

See Dr. Tracy’s commentary on the drugawareness.org website here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58O39F20090925

Antidepressants in pregnancy up heart defect risk

Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:58am EDT

By Anthony J. Brown, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study.

However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants – known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – do not have such defects, the researchers are quick to note.

Earlier studies have tied SSRIs during pregnancy to heart defects, but also to even more serious birth defects. According to the new study of nearly half a million children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2003, however, only heart defects are likely to be associated with the antidepressants, note co-author Dr. Lars Henning Pedersen, from Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues.

Along with fluoxetine, sertraline (marketed as Zoloft) and citalopram (marketed as Celexa) seemed to increase the risk more than others, as did using more than one antidepressant at a time, according to the report in the September 25th Online First issue of BMJ.

Overall, SSRI use in early pregnancy, defined as 28 days before to 112 days after conception, doubled the risk of a particular kind of heart defect involving a piece of tissue that separates parts of the heart.

Sertraline more than tripled the risk, while citalopram more than doubled it. Using more than one SSRI nearly quintupled the risk of the heart defect.

However, the number of children born with such defects was still quite small: For about every 250 pregnant women who did not take SSRIs, one infant was born with the defect, while about two were born with the defect for every 250 women who took one SSRI, and four for every 200 mothers who took more than one.

Pedersen told Reuters Health that the results surprised the team.

Still, in an accompanying editorial, Dr. Christina Chambers, from the University of California, San Diego, comments that doctors and patients “need to balance the small risks associated with SSRIs against those associated with undertreatment or no treatment.”

SOURCE: BMJ, online September 25, 2009.

Filed under: antidepressants, Congress, Melanie Stokes, mothers act, pharmacology, PPD, Pregnancy, suicide, antidepressant, British Medical Journal, Celexa, citalopram, Danish, exposure, fluoxetine, heart defects, Prozac, sertraline, SSRI, SSRIs, Zoloft

Facts On Recent School Shooters Taking Antidepressants

Prescription for Violence: Is there a Connection Between School Shooters & Psychiatric Drugs?
New Documentary Exposes Rampant Pharmaceutically–Induced School Shootings
22 September 2008

The Kauhajoki Finland school shooting, which left 11 dead and 2 wounded, could be the latest in the chain of psychiatric drug induced school shootings highlighted in a new documentary entitled Psychiatry: Prescription for Violence — created by the mental health watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). With 54 dead and 105 wounded from recent school shooters under the influence of psychiatric drugs documented to cause suicidal behavior, mania, psychosis, hallucinations, hostility and “homicidal ideation,” CCHR is calling on Finland’s law enforcement and press to fully investigate the school shooter’s psychiatric drug history. The group says this is the second major school shooting to happen in Finland in less than a year: last November, Pekka-Eric Auvinen joined the growing list of school shooters under the influence of psychiatric drugs documented by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to cause suicidal behavior and homicidal thoughts. In other instances, the shooter’s medical records were never made public, so their psychiatric drug use remains in question. School shootings committed by individuals under the influence of psychiatric drugs include: 

• DeKalb, Illinois – February 14, 2008: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak shot and killed five people and wounded 16 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology reports showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.
   
• Omaha, Nebraska – December 5, 2007: 19-year-old Robert Hawkins killed eight people and wounded five before committing suicide in an Omaha mall. Hawkins’ friend told CNN that the gunman was on antidepressants, and autopsy results confirmed he was under the influence of the “anti-anxiety” drug Valium.
   
• Jokela, Finland – November 7, 2007: 18-year-old Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School in southern Finland, then committed suicide.
   
• Cleveland, Ohio – October 10, 2007: 14-year-old Asa Coon stormed through his school with a gun in each hand, shooting and wounding four before taking his own life. court records show Coon had been placed on the antidepressant Trazadone.
   
• Blacksburg, Virginia – April 16, 2007: The psychiatric drug history of Seung-Hui Cho in the Virginia Tech Massacre was never made public. Initial reports stated that “depression medication” was found among Cho’s belongings. But neither his toxicology reports, nor his recent medical history were ever released to find out whether Cho had been in withdrawal from psychiatric medication. (33 were killed and 29 injured, but this was not included in the total of dead and wounded cited above.)
   
• Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota – March 21, 2005: 16-year-old Native American Jeff Weise, reportedly under the influence of the antidepressant Prozac, went on a shooting rampage at home and at his school, killing nine people and wounding five before committing suicide. 
   
• Greenbush, New York – February 2004: 16-year-old Jon Romano strolled into his high school in east Greenbush and opened fire with a shotgun. Special education teacher Michael Bennett was hit in the leg. Romano had been taking “medication for depression.” 
   
• El Cajon, California – March 22, 2001: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman was on two antidepressants, Effexor and Celexa, when he opened fire at his California high school wounding five. Hoffman had also undergone an “anger management” program.
   
• Williamsport, Pennsylvania – March 7, 2000: 14-year-old Elizabeth Bush was on the antidepressant Prozac when she blasted away at fellow students in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, wounding one.
   
• Conyers, Georgia – May 20, 1999: 15-year-old T.J. Solomon was being treated with a mix of antidepressants when he opened fire on and wounded 6 of his classmates.
   
• Columbine, Colorado – April 20, 1999: 18-year-old Eric Harris was on the antidepressant Luvox when he and his partner Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher and wounded 23 others before taking their own lives in the bloodiest school massacre in history. The coroner confirmed that the antidepressant was in his system through toxicology reports while Dylan Klebold’s autopsy was never made public. Harris and Klebold underwent “anger management” and “death education” classes.
   
• Notus, Idaho – April 16, 1999: 15-year-old Shawn Cooper fired two shotgun rounds in his school narrowly missing students; he was taking a mix of antidepressants.
   
• Springfield, Oregon – May 21, 1998: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his own parents and then proceeded to school where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 22. Kinkel had been on Prozac. Kinkel also underwent “anger management” classes.

This message is a public service announcement provided by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International. For more information, contact CCHR at 800-869-2247 or email humanrights@cchr.org

Filed under: shootings, antidepressants, Columbine, suicide, Kip Kinkel, Oregon, Idaho, Shawn Cooper, Columbine, Eric Harris, Luvox, Dylan Klebold, Prozac, Georgia, Conyers, T.J. Solomon, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Bush, El Cajon, California, Jason Hoffman, Effexor, Celexa, anger management, death education, Greenbush, New York, Jon Romano, Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, Jeff Weise, Blacksburg, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Seung-Hui Cho, sealed records, Cleveland, Ohio, Asa Coon, Trazadone, Jokela, Finland, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, Omaha, Nebraska, Robert Hawkins, Omaha mall, Valium, DeKalb, Illinois, Valentine's Day Shooting, Steven Kazmierczak, Northern Illinois University, Xanax, Ambien