Let’s start with a question. When it comes to the debate over mass-shootings in America, why does the discussion always go towards tougher gun laws? And yet, we’re talking about the role of antidepressants and other psychiatric medication?
The truth: the connection between mass-shooters and these meds is stunning.
While we still do not know what, if any, medications Nicolas Cruz as actually on, what we do know that the number of high-profile mass-shootings over the last 30 years and the link to psychiatric medication is deeply concerning.
In 1989: 47-year-old Joseph T. Wesbecker shot 20 workers in a Louisville, KY factory, killing 9 people–just a month after he began taking Prozac. The drug maker Eli Lilly and Company later settled a lawsuit brought by survivors.
1998: 15-year-old Oregon school shooter Kip Kinkel opened fire in his school’s cafeteria. He was also on Prozac.
1999: Columbine killer Eric Harris was on Luvox, another antidepressant. Now, an important fact about Luvox; according to author David Kupelian in his book “How Evil Works”: “Luvox manufacturer Solvay Pharmaceuticals concedes that during short-term controlled clinical trials, 4 percent of children and youth taking Luvox–that’s one in 25–developed mania, a dangerous and violence-prone mental derangement characterized by extreme excitement and delusion.”
In 2005: 16-year-old Jeff Weise, living on Minnesota’s Red Lake Indian Reservation, shot and killed nine people and wounded five others before killing himself. Weise had been taking Prozac.
2007: The Virginia Tech shooter had shot and killed 32 people. Officials found prescription medicine related to the treatment of psychological problems among his personal belongings. That according to the New York Times.
2012: Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was reportedly prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft.
2013: Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis sprayed bullets at office workers in a cafeteria killing 13 people including himself. Alexis had been prescribed Trazodone by his Veterans Affairs doctor.
2014: Elliot Rodger went on a shooting spree after stabbing three men to death. He had been prescribed psychotropic drugs. That according to the L.A. Times.
2017: Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, had been prescribed Diazepam. Diazepam is known by its brand name Valium. That’s how most of us would know it. It’s a sedative hypnotic drug in the class of drugs which studies have shown can trigger aggressive behavior. Paddock received his prescription in June of 2017; just months later in October carried out the deadliest shooting in modern American history.
Now, there are dozens of other examples; but to be clear, we’re not saying that absolutely prescription drugs are to blame for mass-shootings. The underlying issues of mental health through that these shooters all seem to have are alarming.
And knowing that the majority of them were prescribed antidepressants, you have to consider this: some of the most alarming side effects of Prozac include suicidal thoughts, self-mutilation, and manic behavior. Zoloft can cause hallucinations, agitation, and memory problems. For Valium, it’s also hallucinations, depression, and thoughts of suicide. These are dangers that drug makers themselves are required to disclose.
Now, the use of antidepressants in America has skyrocketed. As of 2013, 12% of Americans were filling prescriptions for them. And while millions of people do not suffer violent episodes, the drug makers warn that some people may, and do. You’ve heard some of those warnings in the commercials of those pharmaceutical companies pay to run on mainstream media networks.
Correlation does not always equal causation, we know that. We also do not know that the reason for these mass-shootings is because of any one or any number of drugs. Nor do we know how much of a role, if any, that these drugs may have played. But the question is, why is that? Why are politicians and mainstream media pushing so many discussions about guns and virtually no discussion of whether or not antidepressants or psychiatric drugs may have played a role? Because the numbers are compelling and they beg a question that deserves an answer.
