School shooter took mood-altering drug

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | March 25, 2005 | Joyce Howard Price

[neverdem]

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The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com

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School shooter took mood-altering drug

By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 25, 2005

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The teen who went on a deadly shooting rampage at a Minnesota high school Monday was on Prozac, adding to the list of youths involved in similar crimes who were taking antidepressants or other mood-altering medications.

    But medical experts say the role the drugs played in the school shootings is debatable.

    "When you look at the school shooters, some were on Luvox, Prozac, Ritalin, and Paxil. These are mood elevators, but they can push up the psyche and can cause agitation," said Robert Butterworth, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, who specializes in trauma.

    Dr. Robert Findling, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry for University Hospitals of Cleveland, said while some youths "may become more agitated or irritable" while on such drugs, their actions are the result of their illness, not the medication.

    "Association is not the same as causation," he said.

    Jeff Weise, 16, killed nine persons and himself in Red Lake, Minn., making it the second-deadliest school incident in the nation. A cultural coordinator at the school told The Washington Post that he was taking Prozac and had been previously hospitalized for suicidal tendencies.

    The deadliest school shooting occurred in Littleton, Colo. where Eric Harris, 18, who was on Luvox, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 13 persons and themselves at Columbine High School in 1999.

    Other school shooters who took prescription drugs include:

    •Kip Kinkel, an Oregon youth, who in 1998 when he was 15 years old, killed both his parents and then went to his school, where...

[John Lenin]

Yea, we are entering the Twilight Zone and the results are just starting to show up. When enough people are negatively affected it will change but we are destroying a genration or two for self gratification. Man is an idiot and can only be saved by religion.

[durasell]

You might want to re-think the use of this term: "self gratification."

Everything changes, it always has. The family structure changed dramatically in the early part of the 20th century from multi-generational, extended families to the nuclear family. And it's going to change again, probably back to the multi-generational family for economic reasons.

[John Lenin]

No, we have entered the Twilight Zone, it's uncharted waters. You don't even need a spouse to have a child, test tube babies. Raising kids with two moms or two dads. They are just avoiding the studies on the negative effects and telling us how wonderful it is. It's not so wonderful for the kids when the grow up and get into their 30's and 40's and figure out what truck they got hit by.

[durasell]

I can't predict the future, so I can't comment. For all I know, the trend may swing back to low divorce rates and a traditional nuclear family.

[neverdem]

I'm interested in all adverse drug reactions. Please, tell your story. I may respond later today.

[philman_36]

"Association is not the same as causation," he said.
Ignored daily in America's War On (some) Drugs.

[neverdem]

I'd be interested in knowing the total percentage of students taking psych medications. I mean if it's close to 100% for instance, the fact that a shooter's on medication becomes pretty irrelevant to the cause of the shooting, imo.

Check "Related Articles" for similar articles. If it was 100%, then our Armed Forces would have had no recent recruits for quite a while.

Psychotropic medication use in a national probability sample of children in the child welfare system.

[Sandy]

Thank you. That's a good link. It says, "Overall, 13.5% of children in child welfare were taking psychotropic medications...a rate between 2 and 3 times that of children treated in the community."

[Vinnie]

The instant I heard of this shooting I thought, 'another drugged up kid.'

Drugs (legal)are involved in right at 100% of these shootings.

Helloooo!

[neverdem]

Well, medications can't do squat for moral problems.

Who can distingush moral problems when they are flipped out on SSRIs

[Vinnie]

You can't institutionalize them; you are forced to mainstream them into the school system.

Bingo

Years ago, these kids would have been separated from the other kids, special schooling.

But no, all must be mainstreamed. Can't destroy their self esteem doncha know.
My wife works in the school system and some of the 'horror' stories....

[from occupied ga]

it is beyond dispute that the effects of these drugs on the brain cannot be predicted with any degree of confidence

And your medical quailfications to make such a statement are? Or failing that do you have journal articles that back this up? Or are you just reacting to anectodal evidence?

[thoughtomator]

Modern science simply doesn't know enough about how the brain works. I don't need a medical degree to point out that well-known fact; however, I have studied this issue due to my concerns about child abuse, and the myriad of doctors and therapists I have consulted all agree, without exception. However, if you doubt this, feel free to ask any objective authority who has the credentials that you respect.

[Vinnie]

Wellbutrin, was it?

I was prescribed wellbutrin as a smoking cessation aid.

It's supposed to calm you.
Took it for 2 months. (and no, I had not attempted to stop smoking yet)

It had the opposite effect. I became very irritable. If my wife said 'good morning' I would get pi$$ed.

Stopped taking it.

[Oztrich Boy]

The kids are on these drugs because they are already screwed up in one way or another, not the other way around.

then how come there aren't an equal number of kids that are 'screwed up" but not on drugs doing the shootings?

Because the system manages to catch all the disturbed kids and put them on medication. Noöne slips through the cracks.

[Condor51]

***For example, what happened to insane asylums?***

If you'll recall during the mid 1970's the liberals arbitrarily decided for all of us that is mean to keep these wacko's locked-up as they "had rights", so most were asylums were closed down.

The remaining nut houses were renamed to something less 'hurtful' and 'mean spirited - like

Circuit Court, the State Legislature and the US Congress

:-)

[from occupied ga]

I have studied this issue due to my concerns about child abuse, and the myriad of doctors and therapists I have consulted all agree, without exception

I just wondered what you based your statement on. Obviously the majority of MDs do NOT agree with you because they keep on prescribing the stuff. It would seem to me that considering the large number of people on these drugs, and the very few creeps who actually go on shooting sprees that you cannot validly postulate a causal relationship. It would seem that the mass murderers have other problems, and that these drugs have been given in an attempt to ameliorate their mental problems. Of course if you want to eliminate school shootings, all you have to do is allow legal concealed carry in the schools thus eliminate self defense free zones.

[thoughtomator]

Why don't you ask some. These drugs are universally prescribed in the hope that they might have the intended effects. As the testimony of others on this thread indicates, the reality is often quite different. Where there is not diligent followup, there is very often the situation of people taking drugs that make their conditions worse, not better. Many people continue to take these things despite contraindicative symptoms in the religious belief that they will do what they are intended to do.

[Atlas Sneezed]

You have kids smoking pot at 9 and 10 years now. And it's not the pot that existed 20 or 30 years ago. This is hybrid stuff.

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While I agree that the modern stuff is undoubtedly stronger, it is chemically identical.

[Atlas Sneezed]

You have kids smoking pot at 9 and 10 years now. And it's not the pot that existed 20 or 30 years ago. This is hybrid stuff.

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While I agree that the modern stuff is undoubtedly stronger, it is chemically identical.