CLEARWATER, Fla., March 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog organization founded by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, has been investigating and collecting information on psychiatric drug links to school shooters and other acts of senseless violence since 1989. CCHR Florida is once again calling upon lawmakers to examine the studies detailing the link between psychiatric drugs and school shootings and investigate the connection to the recent tragedy in Parkland.
The President of CCHR Florida said, “It is documented that Nikolas Cruz, the alleged shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, had been regularly seen by mental health professionals for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and was deemed stable due to taking medications consistently1. However, ADHD drugs and other purportedly 'safe' psychiatric medications prescribed to troubled children, come with black box warnings, which clearly state side effects which include psychotic episodes, homicide, suicide, mania, and violence2.”
A black box warning is the strictest label possible that the FDA can put on a drug, or medical device, to alert people that serious safety risks, including life-threatening dangers, are associated with the drug2. In fact, over 34 antidepressants alone come with these warnings3, with additional classes of psychiatric drugs labeled with over 409 warnings4. Despite these alarming public alerts, from 1999 to 2013, psychiatric prescriptions have increased by 117%, resulting in a 240% increase in death rates5.
CCHR Fl pointed to a Swedish study published in 2015 based on 856,493 individuals prescribed SSRIs (“selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors”, aka, antidepressants) clinically proved an increase in violence in the group prescribed the drugs versus a control group of people who didn’t take any antidepressants6. A 2016 study by Professor Jari Tiihonen analyzed the use of prescription drugs of 959 people convicted of a homicide in Finland. It was found that pre-crime prescription of benzodiazepines and opiates, both of which have black box warnings in the U.S., resulted in the highest risk (a 223% increase) of actually committing homicide7,8. Moreover, there is continual anecdotal evidence that links psychiatric drugs to violence on sites such as AntiDepAware, which has been reporting on antidepressant-related homicides since 20039.
Yet, with evidence of more violence plus millions of people prescribed potentially unsafe psychotropic prescriptions — 78,694,222 in the U.S. alone (that’s one quarter of the American population) — no clinical study has been conducted by the FDA itself to date.
CCHR is therefore calling upon Florida lawmakers to investigate the link between psychiatric medications and violence instead of continuing to throw money at mental health organizations, which collect over 70 billion dollars per year from the administration of these dangerous drugs10.
About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’” For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org
1. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/social-media-post-led-florida-agency-investigate-nikolas-cruz-2016-n849221
2. https://www.drugwatch.com/fda/black-box-warnings/
3. https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/psychiatric-disorder-definitions/medications-for-mental-illness/list-of-antidepressant-medications-with-black-box-warnings/
4. https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/
5. http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_results.jsp?cboDataYear=All&cboDataTypeY=2%2CHousehold+Event+File&buttonYearandDataType=Search&cboPufNumber=All&SearchTitle=Prescribed+Medicines
6. https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/people-taking-psychiatric-drugs/
7. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303061
8. http://kellybroganmd.com/the-violence-inducing-effects-of-psychiatric-medication/
9. http://antidepaware.co.uk/homicides/
10. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-theater-the-brain/201507/psychiatric-drugs-are-false-prophets-big-profits
Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
diane@cchrflorida.org
www.cchrflorida.org