A partial list: (These were before the Las Vegas shooter who killed 51) Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Colombine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public. Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded. Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event. Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac. Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft. Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days. Jarred Viktor, age 15, stabbed his grandmother 61 times after 5 days on Paxil. Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment. Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others. A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school. Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded.. A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another. Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others. TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates. Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat. James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers. Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times. Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman. Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister. Neal Furrow in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications. Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants. Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled. Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself. Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002. Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”) Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002, (Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.) Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage. Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet. Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill. Woody ____, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms. A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased. Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.” Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine. Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system. Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide. Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone. Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his New York high school. Suffering from depression, singer Del Shannon committed suicide on February 8, 1990, with a .22-caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California, while on a prescription dose of the anti-depressant drug Prozac.
A lot of people who went wacko with weapons have been under treatment for depression and other issues, and it has never been shown whether the shootings were linked to the disease/syndrome or the treatments prescribed for them.
Take it from me, Clonazepam prescribed to me years ago is much harder to get off of than to stay on. As far as I know, there is zero treatment for getting off this particular group of drugs, only a very, slow taper that can easily take years depending on how much you have been taking, and how long. I am now 8 months into my taper, and halfway through it from the 1mg I was prescribed. Some doctors easily prescribe medicines they know nothing about, or darn little. There is an epidemic of people just in our county alone that are either tapering benzos, just getting started on them, or believe they won't harm them because doctors know best
There has been a movement that maintained only psychiatrists who are trained in these types of drugs should be allowed to prescribe them, as the common GP, Family Doc or pediatricians knows little about what they can do to a person and how addictive they can be. That has been quashed by Big Pharma, of course. The same has happened with opiates; some think mid-level practitioners, such as nurse practitioners or PAs should not be allowed to prescribe them. Mid-levels dishing out opiates was one of the causes, although not the sole cause, of the opiate epidemic. Again, Big Pharma wanted as many of these drugs to be purchased as possible, and one drug company was sued and lost over this way this was done.
That's the one thing I hope for is that my doctor (MD) can continue to prescribe this benzo until I'm off it. He's a good doctor (good man) but he is caught up in the whole Big Pharma push. I have refused any other drugs for diabetes, osteoporosis, palpatations and cholesterol simply because I've found alternative ways to beat all of them, I'm my own guinea pig but myself better than a doctor/big parma's guinea pig. Also, there are too many being mislead by Drug Rehab Centers, and doctors who don't know how to taper a benzo, or any other drug for that matter. These people can't be refused prescriptions or they could die from not taking them, at least the possibility of stroke, seizures, permanent brain damage, CNS damage. It says on the bottles and paperwork "do not stop this drug abruptly", how many read the paperwork, or research before they pop?? They trust the doctor, sometimes because they don't want to take responsibility for their own health, or at least partnership with their doctors, if that's even possible
Yup. And without diminishing what life can do (and has done) to us all and certainly what mental illness entails, a large part of that can be state of mind and perhaps the lack of one person reaching out.
Doctors are very well paid by drug companies to prescribe. Not only money, but huge perks as well. After drug companies spend millions on required research & stiudies, they need to make their investment back before they can profit.
Suicide = permanent solution to a "possibly" temporary problem. Really ashamed about EGO in this country, and the world, Edging God Out.
There was a, what is being called, a "mass shooting" on the campus of University of Nevada at Las Vegas yesterday. The shooter and some others are dead. Authorities still trying to figure out motive. The first night of the National Finals Rodeo (today), at Thomas-Mack Center, which is owned and part of UNLV campus, was cancelled by the rodeo association, Las Vegas Events and law enforcement.
Hey Faye...............was at South Point last night for dinner and you'd never/ever know there had been this shooting at UNLV. Seen lots and lots of Wrangler and Cinch brand jeans and black felt cowboy hats. Even a few Silver-Belly and Gray hats on some older gentlemen/former rodeo cowboys. The older folks, like wife and I, weren't wearing a more comfortable type footwear, not boots. We had on our Ariat Hiking Boots. There are multiple western/rodeo events happening at South Points equestrian arenas. It was REALLY cool seeing and being around all of these folks wearing western apparel and, in one way or another, had something to do with rodeo and/or horses/livestock. Anyway, it's been reported that the shooter was 67 years old and a career Professor. He had applied at UNLV, but was turned down for a job or there was no "Professor" jobs available. So, he went "bizerk".
That is what I read about the professor as well, @Cody Fousnaugh . He violated university policy too, as UNLV is a weapons-free zone and he was not allowed to carry a knife on campus much less a gun. Had he lived, he would probably been chastised for violating policy before he went to jail for mass murder.
Good morning to all- Once again, we get to learn about a school shooting. It begs the question, " How many kids must be killed before something is done?" And don't come back at me with My Second Amendment Rights! what about the kids and school teachers who are shot and killed? Wouldn't it seem logical that their rights to a life might be at least equal to someone's rights to have any sort of gun including military style high volume weapons? It seems to me that an intensive gun education program and intense background checks should be required before any gun can be bought. And all gun owners should be required to undergo intense gun safety training and background checks. The NRA at one time did a very good job with their in-school gun and hunter safety program, but then, with Wayne Lapierre's leadership, the NRA went from a service group to a right wing political organization- and that was a loss. And Right to Bear Arms should come with Responsibility to control and maintain arms safely and out of the hands of people who take their problems out on innocent children at schools. you all be safe and keep well-- Ed
I think part of the problem is that we have so many mentally unstable people in America, as well as a lot of "copy cats" that require, one way or another, any attention they can get. They see the "attention" a mass shooter gets and that excites them. But, what can actually be done? Sorry to say this, but "I just don't know". Wife and I are the only ones in her family that have firearms. Basically, her family doesn't like them at all. I got my Small Arms Training in the Navy at sea and have carried that with me since. I have taught my wife how to handle, shoot and safety. Our firearms all have trigger locks on them and stored in a locked gun/rifle case.