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...

[NonValueAdded]

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.

Finally! Someone calls it properly. The kids are on these drugs because they are already screwed up in one way or another, not the other way around.

[thoughtomator]

The witch doctors who prescribe these drugs to children should be held responsible for the results. This is totally outrageous that they can get away scot-free; it is beyond dispute that the effects of these drugs on the brain cannot be predicted with any degree of confidence. Such a prescription is little more than a wild guess as to what the results might be.

[maine-iac7]

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...

and other kids - also, the guy that shot up the day-trading center was on prozac. suicidal tendencies and violence have been listed as possible side-effects - and these drugs have never been tested on children. Prozac once countered with saying that these side effects only affect about 1% - well, that isn't as little as it sounds - for that 1% represents over 700,000 a MONTH

There's mountains of evidence and warnings on this on the Internet - has been for years...these drugs in children are the smoking gun. But that doesn't fulfill the drive for gun control - or parental rights. "It's the parents!" "It's guns!" (the school personnel, who see these kids more hours than parents are not held even partially accountable...)

[HitmanLV]

Dr. Mike Savage of the Savage Nation called it the first time he discussed the tragedy. He has great instincts - I agreed with him at the time, and it's nice to see it corroborated (days later)!

[thoughtomator]

Maybe so, but it is grossly irresponsible to further compound the problem by the unpredictable effects of drugging them.

There are few people on earth who couldn't be diagnosed with some disorder or another, given sufficient observation.

[durasell]

They prescribe the drugs and then don't conduct the follow-up. Actually, many of them are just GPs and can't perform reliable follow-up evaluations.

[maine-iac7]

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?

just curious

[Texas_Jarhead]

"A cultural coordinator at the school...

These must have been invented in the 90s.

[KC Burke]

In some cases, as the depression lifts and the feeling of being able to conquer the world sets in, the flawed go out to do just that...

[EGPWS]

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.

I'm surprised they aren't going the full gambit and blaming it on "Prozac AND Smith and Wesson".

Anything but the person perpetrating such a horrific scenario.

[NonValueAdded]

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

You wouldn't have an equal number because it is likely the little sociopaths would have already drawn attention to themselves and thus receive some form of medication. The subset of unmedicated shooters that is left appears to be the kids that are picked on until they have had enough and snap.

[durasell]

The brain's a complex piece of machinery. Unfortunately, most people (doctors included) treat their MP3 players with more care.

[Stormcrow]

bump for later

[TheDon]

Hmmmm...perhaps they shouldn't be wandering around freely?

[NonValueAdded]

Maybe so, but it is grossly irresponsible to further compound the problem by the unpredictable effects of drugging them.

But what choices are there? You can't institutionalize them; you are forced to mainstream them into the school system. Are we over prescribing medication? sure. Not providing the proper follow-up care? sure. But it would be truly grossly irresponsible to do nothing. I don't buy that the drug and not the underlying problem is the primary problem. Further, a lot of these drugs have had about a bazillion doses taken by kids so side effects should be well known by now.

[armymarinemom]

This is a youngster who had already been institutionalized once and removed from the mainstream for a while. Years ago children like this wouldn't be mainstreamed.

[truth_seeker]

I say the shrinks that identify, diagnose and medicate these persons would do a GREATER service to ALL, if they would treat the patients by LOCKING THEM UP, thus sparing the general population the side effects of these mental "diseases."

For example, what happened to insane asylums?

[durasell]

Drugs happened to insane asylums. Except for re-hab clinics and various other institutions, there are few nut houses left. This is not a bad thing. What is bad is lazy and unqualified doctors who don't perform follow-up or have the ability to judge a patient's reaction to different drugs.

[thoughtomator]

There are plenty of choices: therapy; foster parentage; special education; mentoring programs; even religious guidance. Giving medication is just a crapshoot at best, and at worst it can be the trigger that pushes the kid from disturbed to outright homicidal. And, as you noted, the lack of followup observation can be downright dangerous. Surely you don't think it's just coincidental, the high incidence of prescribed drug use in these adolescent mass murder cases?