Tunderbar
Tue, May-15-07, 17:15
Looks like the Carnegie-Mellon pharma apologist owes me 100
$USD.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13533556p-14137410c.html
Role of antidepressants in killings needs review
--------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
By TY PHILLIPS tphillips@modbee.com
The murderous rampage that left 33 people dead at Virginia
Tech has stirred countless emotions: sadness and anger, fear
and hatred, grief and disgust.
When Dr. Ann Blake Tracy heard the details, she felt many of
those same emotions. Yet there is one sentiment Tracy does not
share with much of the rest of the world: surprise. As
terrible as it sounds, after nearly 20 years researching links
between violent crime, suicide and antidepressants, Tracy is
surprised only that it doesn't happen more often.
Details continue to emerge about the lonely life of killer
Seung-Hui Cho, who had a history of mental illness. Among
Cho's effects, officials found prescription medications
related to the treatment of
psychological problems.
Though it's still premature to draw conclusions without
toxicology results, these are the details Tracy, an author and
the executive director of the International Coalition for Drug
Awareness, expected from the moment she heard about the
Virginia Tech shootings. In her experience, when it comes to
investigating high-profile shootings, antidepressants are as
common as the presence of loneliness, despondence and rage.
"I'm just so tired of seeing people die, I could scream,"
Tracy said during a phone interview. "It's happening daily in
this country. It's so massive, it's just unreal. We've got so
many school shootings now, I can't even begin to keep up with
them all. And the reason is so incredibly obvious. You don't
have to look at much to figure it out."
2006, Bailey, Colo. - Duane Morrison shot and killed a girl
and sexually assaulted six others. Antidepressants were found
in his vehicle.
2005, Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minn. - Jeff Weise shot
and killed nine people and wounded five before committing
suicide. Prozac.
1998, Springfield, Ore. - Kip Kinkel killed his parents, then
went to school and opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two
and wounding 22. Prozac.
1989, Stockton - Patrick Purdy used an assault rifle to spray
bullets through a playground at Cleveland Elementary School,
killing five children and wounding 29 people before he killed
himself. Elavil.
'It's all so intertwined'
There are dozens of other examples of violence at schools and
the presence of antidepressants, but the carnage hardly is
limited to our campuses. Countless families have been
destroyed around the world through homicides and suicides
committed by adults on antidepressants.
In June 2001, Texan Andrea Yates drowned her five children
under the influence of four psychiatric medicines,
including Effexor.
In February 2004 in Polk Township, Pa., Samantha Hirt, hours
after taking a pill for manic depression, set fire in a
bedroom where her two toddlers were playing, closed the door
and sat on a sofa watching television while the fire spread,
killing both children. Effexor.
Other famous cases include the 1998 deaths of actor Phil
Hartman and his wife, a murder/suicide committed by her
(Zoloft); the 1999 home and office killing spree by Atlanta
day trader Mark Barton (Prozac); the 1998 shooting deaths
of four co-workers by Connecticut lottery accountant
Matthew Beck, who then killed himself (Luvox); and the 1994
New York City subway bombing by Edward Leary, which injured
48 (Prozac).
The list (which can be found at www.drugawareness.org)
encompasses hundreds and hundreds of cases.
"You start linking them together and looking at all the
similarities and you say, 'Good grief, it's all so
intertwined,'" said Tracy, who has appeared on programs
including "20/20," "Dateline" and "60 Minutes" and served as a
consultant on high-profile cases including Columbine and
Andrea Yates. "I keep asking, 'When is somebody going to see
this?' But we've been so brainwashed about drugs, we think
legal means safe.
"Most people don't know LSD once was prescribed as a wonder
drug. Most people don't know that PCP was considered to have a
large margin of safety in humans. Most people don't know
ecstasy was prescribed and sold for five years to treat
depression. Few know that history of drugs, and I think that's
our biggest problem. We're just not educated enough to have
concerns."
Prozac nation, indeed
The Northern San Joaquin Valley certainly is not immune.
Stanislaus County Coroner Kristi Herr, who has investigated
hundreds of the county's 4,000 annual deaths, including many
accidental overdoses of prescription medicines, said she
regularly goes into homes of deceased people and finds
medicine cabinets loaded with prescription medicines.
Sometimes there are so many pill bottles that large garbage
bags are needed to transport them all.
"It seems to me a large portion of our society is on
antidepressants," Herr said. "That isn't based on statistics.
That is just based on my experience of going into homes and
evaluating the cases that come through here."
In 2003, then-Newman resident Lorraine Slater's 14-year-old
daughter, Dominique, killed herself after being treated for
depression with several antidepressants, including Celexa
and Wellbutrin. As her depression and erratic behavior
worsened, her doctor prescribed her a double dose of
Effexor. Fifteen days later, she was dead. Her body later
was found in the Delta Mendota Canal in Patterson, not far
from the family's home.
"On the drug, she became more agitated, combative and
restless," Slater said. "And she had never been like that
before. It's like our daughter was on LSD. It was a real Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde experience."
Shortly after Dominique's death, the FDA released a
warning that one in 50 patients, or 2 percent, will
experience an adverse reaction to Effexor, which can
include suicidal thoughts.
Slater has become a consumer advocate working to raise
awareness of possible dangers of antidepressants. On May 9,
she will testify at a hearing at the state Capitol concerning
a bill that would require drug companies to disclose results
of all clinical trials.
"We're not against medication," Slater said. "We just want
disclosure about results from their trials. In their internal
memos, marketers are told to downplay the side effects, and a
lot of doctors aren't aware of the real dangers.
"We're just saying these companies need to give the citizens
they're supposedly trying to help the information about
possible symptoms so people can make informed decisions. If
their medicine is so good, what is there they have to hide?"
Arguments against link
Of course, the logical argument against tying violent crimes
to antidepressants is that there are countless factors that
motivate a person to commit a violent act.
And those who carry out these deeds often are people with
mental illness, so the presence of antidepressants can be
expected. These are solid points; correlation does not in
itself mean causation. And there is no doubting that countless
people have benefited from these drugs.
Still, as one looks at the details of violent crimes around
the country, too often there is an array of
antidepressants. At the very least, this is a topic that
deserves greater scrutiny.
In early 2005, the FDA issued a warning that antidepressants
can cause both suicide and violence. The agency also mandated
a black-box warning - the most serious available - that states
these drugs can produce side effects that include anxiety,
agitation, panic attacks, irritability, hostility,
aggressiveness, impulsivity and mania.
The FDA also has warned that abrupt withdrawal of
antidepressants can produce suicide, psychosis or hostility.
Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, repeatedly has denied claims
that Prozac causes violence, even though the company's own
documents acknowledge "nervousness, anxiety, self-mutilation
and manic behavior" are among the "usual adverse effects" of
the medicine.
It's the same Eli Lilly that has paid more than $1.2 billion
to 28,000 people who claimed they were injured by the drug
Zyprexa during the past decade, according to a Jan. 5 article
in the New York Times.
Paying $1.2 billion over 10 years may sound like a lot of
money until compared with the $4.2 billion the company made
last year alone selling Zyprexa, which has been taken by 20
million people worldwide since its introduction in 1996.
Most antidepressant drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil,
Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro and Effexor, are known as selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which alter brain chemistry in
an attempt to manage depression.
Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, is a chemical that facilitates
communication within the brain, allowing one to experience
happy feelings upon its release. Essentially, the
antidepressant drugs prevent reabsorption of serotonin in an
attempt to make the happiness experience last longer.
Mother of a monster
One of the former lead chemists at the National Institute of
Health, whose work eventually led to the development of many
antidepressant drugs, first spoke out against the drugs nearly
10 years ago.
"I am alarmed at the monster that Johns Hopkins neuroscientist
Solomon Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple
binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago," said Dr.
Candace Pert in the Oct. 20, 1997, issue of Time magazine.
She said Prozac and other SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitor) antidepressants may cause heart problems and
affect the entire body, where the vast majority of serotonin
is produced.
The medical profession "ignores the body as if it exists
merely to carry the head around," said Pert, who's now
scientific director of RAPID Pharmaceuticals in Potomac, Md.
"These molecules of emotion regulate every aspect of our
physiology."
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention found that half of all Americans take at least one
prescription drug, and that antidepressant use has nearly
tripled in the past decade. According to some estimates, 30
million Americans take antidepressants. FDA statistics show
U.S. physicians issue more than 10 million antidepressant
prescriptions each year to patients younger than 18.
FDA-approved prescription drugs injure 2.2 million and kill at
least 100,000 Americans each year, according to numerous
published studies.
Some survive and forgive
Problem is, when antidepressants don't work as intended, the
harmful fallout isn't limited to the user. The victims often
are those within striking distance. They are people like
Mark Taylor, who was sitting outside and reading a Bible
when he was shot numerous times by Eric Harris at Columbine
High School.
"The first one hit me in the back of the leg. That was the
shotgun blast," Taylor said in a recent phone interview. "That
was the most painful. And then I got hit several more times in
the chest; the bullets went right through me. They tried to
make sure I was dead. I laid down and pretended I was dead.
"I think Eric Harris, from the medication, didn't really know
what he was doing. I don't really hold him responsible for it.
Eric and Dylan were both taking medicines. They just didn't
seem to have any reaction to what they were doing. They were
having fun with it, laughing and enjoying it and having a good
time. I feel that antidepressants were the cause of the
Columbine shooting."
Taylor, now 24, travels the country and speaks about the
importance of forgiveness. Since the Virginia Tech shootings,
he has been besieged with interview requests. His interviews
included an appearance on "The Morning Show with Mike and
Juliet," a national Fox News Network program. The hosts
invited Taylor because they wanted to hear from someone who
had survived a school shooting, someone who presumably could
offer insight to help other children survive such an incident.
"Forgiveness," Taylor told them, "that's how I survived it."
But Taylor said the show's commentators weren't much
interested in his message of forgiveness. Instead, the show
focused on interviews with FBI agents and police tacticians,
who offered survival tips that we are supposed to use to arm
our children as we send them off to school.
Is this what it's come to? Do we now simply accept that
frequent school shootings are a part of today's society and
prepare ourselves for when tragedy strikes? Too often, instead
of working to find the cause of problems, we react to
symptoms. That same kind of thinking is what has so many
Americans taking antidepressants in the first place.
$USD.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13533556p-14137410c.html
Role of antidepressants in killings needs review
--------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
By TY PHILLIPS tphillips@modbee.com
The murderous rampage that left 33 people dead at Virginia
Tech has stirred countless emotions: sadness and anger, fear
and hatred, grief and disgust.
When Dr. Ann Blake Tracy heard the details, she felt many of
those same emotions. Yet there is one sentiment Tracy does not
share with much of the rest of the world: surprise. As
terrible as it sounds, after nearly 20 years researching links
between violent crime, suicide and antidepressants, Tracy is
surprised only that it doesn't happen more often.
Details continue to emerge about the lonely life of killer
Seung-Hui Cho, who had a history of mental illness. Among
Cho's effects, officials found prescription medications
related to the treatment of
psychological problems.
Though it's still premature to draw conclusions without
toxicology results, these are the details Tracy, an author and
the executive director of the International Coalition for Drug
Awareness, expected from the moment she heard about the
Virginia Tech shootings. In her experience, when it comes to
investigating high-profile shootings, antidepressants are as
common as the presence of loneliness, despondence and rage.
"I'm just so tired of seeing people die, I could scream,"
Tracy said during a phone interview. "It's happening daily in
this country. It's so massive, it's just unreal. We've got so
many school shootings now, I can't even begin to keep up with
them all. And the reason is so incredibly obvious. You don't
have to look at much to figure it out."
2006, Bailey, Colo. - Duane Morrison shot and killed a girl
and sexually assaulted six others. Antidepressants were found
in his vehicle.
2005, Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minn. - Jeff Weise shot
and killed nine people and wounded five before committing
suicide. Prozac.
1998, Springfield, Ore. - Kip Kinkel killed his parents, then
went to school and opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two
and wounding 22. Prozac.
1989, Stockton - Patrick Purdy used an assault rifle to spray
bullets through a playground at Cleveland Elementary School,
killing five children and wounding 29 people before he killed
himself. Elavil.
'It's all so intertwined'
There are dozens of other examples of violence at schools and
the presence of antidepressants, but the carnage hardly is
limited to our campuses. Countless families have been
destroyed around the world through homicides and suicides
committed by adults on antidepressants.
In June 2001, Texan Andrea Yates drowned her five children
under the influence of four psychiatric medicines,
including Effexor.
In February 2004 in Polk Township, Pa., Samantha Hirt, hours
after taking a pill for manic depression, set fire in a
bedroom where her two toddlers were playing, closed the door
and sat on a sofa watching television while the fire spread,
killing both children. Effexor.
Other famous cases include the 1998 deaths of actor Phil
Hartman and his wife, a murder/suicide committed by her
(Zoloft); the 1999 home and office killing spree by Atlanta
day trader Mark Barton (Prozac); the 1998 shooting deaths
of four co-workers by Connecticut lottery accountant
Matthew Beck, who then killed himself (Luvox); and the 1994
New York City subway bombing by Edward Leary, which injured
48 (Prozac).
The list (which can be found at www.drugawareness.org)
encompasses hundreds and hundreds of cases.
"You start linking them together and looking at all the
similarities and you say, 'Good grief, it's all so
intertwined,'" said Tracy, who has appeared on programs
including "20/20," "Dateline" and "60 Minutes" and served as a
consultant on high-profile cases including Columbine and
Andrea Yates. "I keep asking, 'When is somebody going to see
this?' But we've been so brainwashed about drugs, we think
legal means safe.
"Most people don't know LSD once was prescribed as a wonder
drug. Most people don't know that PCP was considered to have a
large margin of safety in humans. Most people don't know
ecstasy was prescribed and sold for five years to treat
depression. Few know that history of drugs, and I think that's
our biggest problem. We're just not educated enough to have
concerns."
Prozac nation, indeed
The Northern San Joaquin Valley certainly is not immune.
Stanislaus County Coroner Kristi Herr, who has investigated
hundreds of the county's 4,000 annual deaths, including many
accidental overdoses of prescription medicines, said she
regularly goes into homes of deceased people and finds
medicine cabinets loaded with prescription medicines.
Sometimes there are so many pill bottles that large garbage
bags are needed to transport them all.
"It seems to me a large portion of our society is on
antidepressants," Herr said. "That isn't based on statistics.
That is just based on my experience of going into homes and
evaluating the cases that come through here."
In 2003, then-Newman resident Lorraine Slater's 14-year-old
daughter, Dominique, killed herself after being treated for
depression with several antidepressants, including Celexa
and Wellbutrin. As her depression and erratic behavior
worsened, her doctor prescribed her a double dose of
Effexor. Fifteen days later, she was dead. Her body later
was found in the Delta Mendota Canal in Patterson, not far
from the family's home.
"On the drug, she became more agitated, combative and
restless," Slater said. "And she had never been like that
before. It's like our daughter was on LSD. It was a real Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde experience."
Shortly after Dominique's death, the FDA released a
warning that one in 50 patients, or 2 percent, will
experience an adverse reaction to Effexor, which can
include suicidal thoughts.
Slater has become a consumer advocate working to raise
awareness of possible dangers of antidepressants. On May 9,
she will testify at a hearing at the state Capitol concerning
a bill that would require drug companies to disclose results
of all clinical trials.
"We're not against medication," Slater said. "We just want
disclosure about results from their trials. In their internal
memos, marketers are told to downplay the side effects, and a
lot of doctors aren't aware of the real dangers.
"We're just saying these companies need to give the citizens
they're supposedly trying to help the information about
possible symptoms so people can make informed decisions. If
their medicine is so good, what is there they have to hide?"
Arguments against link
Of course, the logical argument against tying violent crimes
to antidepressants is that there are countless factors that
motivate a person to commit a violent act.
And those who carry out these deeds often are people with
mental illness, so the presence of antidepressants can be
expected. These are solid points; correlation does not in
itself mean causation. And there is no doubting that countless
people have benefited from these drugs.
Still, as one looks at the details of violent crimes around
the country, too often there is an array of
antidepressants. At the very least, this is a topic that
deserves greater scrutiny.
In early 2005, the FDA issued a warning that antidepressants
can cause both suicide and violence. The agency also mandated
a black-box warning - the most serious available - that states
these drugs can produce side effects that include anxiety,
agitation, panic attacks, irritability, hostility,
aggressiveness, impulsivity and mania.
The FDA also has warned that abrupt withdrawal of
antidepressants can produce suicide, psychosis or hostility.
Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, repeatedly has denied claims
that Prozac causes violence, even though the company's own
documents acknowledge "nervousness, anxiety, self-mutilation
and manic behavior" are among the "usual adverse effects" of
the medicine.
It's the same Eli Lilly that has paid more than $1.2 billion
to 28,000 people who claimed they were injured by the drug
Zyprexa during the past decade, according to a Jan. 5 article
in the New York Times.
Paying $1.2 billion over 10 years may sound like a lot of
money until compared with the $4.2 billion the company made
last year alone selling Zyprexa, which has been taken by 20
million people worldwide since its introduction in 1996.
Most antidepressant drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil,
Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro and Effexor, are known as selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which alter brain chemistry in
an attempt to manage depression.
Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, is a chemical that facilitates
communication within the brain, allowing one to experience
happy feelings upon its release. Essentially, the
antidepressant drugs prevent reabsorption of serotonin in an
attempt to make the happiness experience last longer.
Mother of a monster
One of the former lead chemists at the National Institute of
Health, whose work eventually led to the development of many
antidepressant drugs, first spoke out against the drugs nearly
10 years ago.
"I am alarmed at the monster that Johns Hopkins neuroscientist
Solomon Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple
binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago," said Dr.
Candace Pert in the Oct. 20, 1997, issue of Time magazine.
She said Prozac and other SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitor) antidepressants may cause heart problems and
affect the entire body, where the vast majority of serotonin
is produced.
The medical profession "ignores the body as if it exists
merely to carry the head around," said Pert, who's now
scientific director of RAPID Pharmaceuticals in Potomac, Md.
"These molecules of emotion regulate every aspect of our
physiology."
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention found that half of all Americans take at least one
prescription drug, and that antidepressant use has nearly
tripled in the past decade. According to some estimates, 30
million Americans take antidepressants. FDA statistics show
U.S. physicians issue more than 10 million antidepressant
prescriptions each year to patients younger than 18.
FDA-approved prescription drugs injure 2.2 million and kill at
least 100,000 Americans each year, according to numerous
published studies.
Some survive and forgive
Problem is, when antidepressants don't work as intended, the
harmful fallout isn't limited to the user. The victims often
are those within striking distance. They are people like
Mark Taylor, who was sitting outside and reading a Bible
when he was shot numerous times by Eric Harris at Columbine
High School.
"The first one hit me in the back of the leg. That was the
shotgun blast," Taylor said in a recent phone interview. "That
was the most painful. And then I got hit several more times in
the chest; the bullets went right through me. They tried to
make sure I was dead. I laid down and pretended I was dead.
"I think Eric Harris, from the medication, didn't really know
what he was doing. I don't really hold him responsible for it.
Eric and Dylan were both taking medicines. They just didn't
seem to have any reaction to what they were doing. They were
having fun with it, laughing and enjoying it and having a good
time. I feel that antidepressants were the cause of the
Columbine shooting."
Taylor, now 24, travels the country and speaks about the
importance of forgiveness. Since the Virginia Tech shootings,
he has been besieged with interview requests. His interviews
included an appearance on "The Morning Show with Mike and
Juliet," a national Fox News Network program. The hosts
invited Taylor because they wanted to hear from someone who
had survived a school shooting, someone who presumably could
offer insight to help other children survive such an incident.
"Forgiveness," Taylor told them, "that's how I survived it."
But Taylor said the show's commentators weren't much
interested in his message of forgiveness. Instead, the show
focused on interviews with FBI agents and police tacticians,
who offered survival tips that we are supposed to use to arm
our children as we send them off to school.
Is this what it's come to? Do we now simply accept that
frequent school shootings are a part of today's society and
prepare ourselves for when tragedy strikes? Too often, instead
of working to find the cause of problems, we react to
symptoms. That same kind of thinking is what has so many
Americans taking antidepressants in the first place.