CCHR has found that a majority of those who have committed acts of violence such as the mass murders that have occurred in recent years, were either on or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs that come with warnings of dangerous side effects.
The correlation is not surprising when you consider that prescribed psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, stimulants and anti-anxiety drugs have been documented by 27 international drug regulatory agency warnings, including the U.S. FDA, to cause side effects of mania, hostility, violence and even homicidal ideation in a percentage of those prescribed them.
Between 2004 and 2012, the FDA’s MedWatch system (the agency’s safety information and adverse event reporting program) received 14,773 reports on psychiatric drugs causing violent side effects, including:
- 1,531 cases of homicidal ideation/homicide, and
- 3,287 cases of mania and 8,219 cases of aggression.
Moreover, the FDA estimates that less than 1% of all serious events are ever reported to it, so the actual number of side effects occurring is most certainly higher.
It is long past the time that an investigation into the connection between psychiatric drugs and violence was launched. Such an investigation would help not only the families and communities looking for answers to these tragedies but to also assist the many first responders and law enforcement officers that face the gruesome consequences of these tragic events.
CCHR Florida has been recommending the following actions to all members of the Florida Legislature since the tragedy in Parkland, Florida in 2018. These recommendations are as follows:
- Legislative hearings should be held to fully investigate the correlation between psychiatric treatment and violence and suicide.
- Toxicology testing for psychiatric and even illicit drugs should be mandatory in cases where someone has committed a mass shooting or other serious violent crime, the information from which would become part of a national database that all branches and levels of law enforcement could access.
- Train law enforcement officers, school security and teachers in the adverse effects of psychotropic drugs in order to recognize that irrational, violent and suicidal behavior in persons they may face could be influenced by these drugs.
ABOUT CCHR: The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is an international nonprofit mental health watchdog with chapters the world over. Co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus Dr. Thomas Szasz at a time when patients were being warehoused in institutions and stripped of all constitutional, civil and human rights, CCHR is responsible for helping to enact more than 180 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive practices.
