• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

I can't prove it, but I know it's true.

MaggieD

DP Veteran
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Messages
43,244
Reaction score
44,664
Location
Chicago Area
Gender
Female
Political Leaning
Moderate
Up to 8,000,000 children take psychotropic drugs. Between 1994 and 2001, the number of children on psychotropic medication has increased by 60%. The dramatic increase in the use of psychotropics coincides with pharmaceuticals increase in development and marketing of several new psychotropic drugs and the rebranding of older ones.

^^ I have no reason to doubt the above is true. Psychotropic medications overprescribed to children, study suggests

More than half of the 429 known reactions to psychotropic medications are deemed serious.

Documented Side Effects of ADHD Drugs:
Source: Physicians Desk Reference, National Institutes of Health’s Medline Plus, and/or the drug label.

Aggression/hostility Agitation
Blood pressure changes
Changes in vision or blurred vision
Depression
Dizziness or faintness
Fever
Hallucinations
Heart attack
Hives
Hypersensitivity
Impotence
Increased irritability
Insomnia


Involuntary tics/twitching
Irregular heartbeat
Liver problems
Loss of appetite
Mania
Mental/mood changes
Muscle/joint tightness
Nausea
Nervousness
Painful menstruation
Psychosis
Restlessness
Seizures
Sexual dysfunction
Slow/difficult speech
Stomach pain
Stroke
Stunted growth
Sudden death
Suicidal thoughts
Swelling of face or throat
Tourette’s Syndrome
Toxic psychosis
Unusual bleeding/bruising
Unusual sadness/crying
Violent behavior
Vomiting
Weight loss
“Zombie” demeanor

ADHD Drug Side Effects | CCHR International

9.5% of children have been diagnosed with ADHD.
CDC - ADHD, Data and Statistics - NCBDDD

If we want to know why children are committing suicide and shooting up movie theaters and schools? I think we need to take a good, hard look at these medications and their known side effects.

We are medicating our children into oblivion . . . with the encouragement of the medical community, pharmaceutical companies and school systems.

Someday we'll know this is true. Your thoughts?



 
Things like ADD/ADHD can often be managed without medication. My brother found Omega 3 supplements rid him of many of his ADD symptoms, a friend 'cured' his ADHD by cutting out preservatives. Going straight to medicating children, without exploring other options, is sheer laziness.
 
Fact: At least 31 school shootings and/or school-related acts of violence have been committed by those taking orwithdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 162 wounded and 72 killed (in other school shootings, information about their drug use was never made public—neither confirming or refuting if they were under the influence of prescribed drugs). The most important fact about this list, is that these are only cases where the information about their psychiatric drug use was made public. (See full list below)

To give an example, although it is known that James Holmes,suspected perpetrator of the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, was seeing psychiatrist Lynne Fento, it took 9 months for the release of information showing that police had found psychiatric drugs in Holmes apartment—including the anti-anxiety drug clonazepam and the antidepressant sertraline, the generic version of the antidepressant Zoloft.

In other cases, such as Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, it took less than 48 hours to ascertain and confirm that Alexis was under the influence of the antidepressant Trazodone. The two cases cited above, aren’t in the list of school related acts of violence listed below, but illustrate the broad scope of mass murders and acts of senseless violence committed by those under the influence of psychiatric drugs documented by 22 international drug regulatory agencies to cause violent and psychotic reactions.

In addition, a legal appeal calling on the release of Sandy Hook school shooter Adam Lanza’s toxicology reports and medical records to ascertain if he was under the influence of, or in withdrawal from psychiatric drugs is still pending. One of the most misunderstood concepts by the public and even some legislators, is thinking HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) prevents the release of toxicology reports to the general public in the cases of mass murders/school shooters. This is false. According to HIPAA privacy and security rules, (Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 160 and Subparts A, C and E of Part 164), the only entities bound by HIPAA are: 1) health care providers, 2) health plans, and 3) health care clearinghouses. A state medical examiner releasing toxicology reports does not fall into any of those three categories and thus is exempt from HIPAA.
The below list includes individuals documented to have been under the influence of psychiatric drugs and not only includes mass shootings, but the use of knives, swords and bombs. 22 international drug regulatory agency warnings cite side effects including mania, violence, psychosis and even homicidal ideation.

1. St. Louis, Missouri – January 15, 2013: 34-year-old Sean Johnson walked onto the Stevens Institute of Business & Arts campus and shot the school’s financial aid director once in the chest, then shot himself in the torso. Johnson had been taking prescribed drugs for an undisclosed mental illness.
2. Snohomish County, Washington – October 24, 2011: A 15-year-old girl went to Snohomish High School where police alleged that she stabbed a girl as many as 25 times just before the start of school, and then stabbed another girl who tried to help her injured friend. Prior to the attack the girl had been taking “medication” and seeing a psychiatrist. Court documents said the girl was being treated for depression.
3. Planoise, France – December 13, 2010: A 17-year-old youth held twenty pre-school children and their teacher hostage for hours at Charles Fourier preschool. The teen was reported to be on “medication for depression”. He took a classroom hostage with two swords. Eventually, all the children and the teacher were released safely.
4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – September 21, 2011: 14-year-old Christian Helms had two pipe bombs in his backpack, when he shot and wounded Socastee High School’s “resource” (police) officer. However the officer was able to stop the student before he could do anything further. Helms had been taking drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression.
5. Huntsville, Alabama – February 5, 2010: 15-year-old Hammad Memon shot and killed another Discover Middle School student Todd Brown. Memon had a history for being treated for ADHD and depression. He was taking the antidepressant Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.” He had been seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist.
6. Kauhajoki, Finland – September 23, 2008: 22-year-old culinary student Matti Saari shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine. He was also seeing a psychologist.
7. Fresno, California – April 24, 2008: 17-year-old Jesus “Jesse” Carrizales attacked the Fresno high school’s officer, hitting him in the head with a baseball bat. After knocking the officer down, the officer shot Carrizales in self-defense, killing him. Carrizales had been prescribed Lexapro and Geodon, and his autopsy showed that he had a high dose of the antidepressant Lexapro in his blood that could have caused him to be paranoid, according to the coroner.
8. Dekalb, Illinois – February 14, 2008: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak 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 amount of Xanax in his system. He had been seeing a psychiatrist.
9. Jokela, Finland – November 7, 2007: 18-year-old Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School in southern Finland, then committed suicide.
10. Texas – November 7, 2007: 17-year-old Felicia McMillan returned to her former Robert E. Lee High School campus and stabbed a male student and wounded the principle with a knife. McMillan had been on drugs for depression, and had just taken them the night before the incident.
11. Cleveland, Ohio – October 10, 2007: 14-year-old Asa Coon stormed through his school with a gun in each hand, shooting and wounding four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon had been placed on the antidepressant Trazodone.
12. Sudbury, Massachusetts – January 19, 2007: 16-year-old John Odgren stabbed another student with a large kitchen knife in a boy’s bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. In court his father testified that Odgren was prescribed the drug Ritalin.
13. North Vernon, Indiana – December 4, 2006: 16-year-old Travis Roberson stabbed another Jennings County High School student in the neck, nearly severing an artery. Roberson was in withdrawal from Wellbutrin, which he had stopped taking days before the attack.
14. Hillsborough, North Carolina – August 30, 2006: 19-year-old Alvaro Rafael Castillo shot and killed his father, then drove to Orange High School where he opened fire. Two students were injured in the shooting, which ended when school personnel tackled him. His mother said he was on drugs for depression.
15. Chapel Hill, North Carolina – April 2006: 17-year-old William Barrett Foster took a shotgun to school and took a teacher and a fellow student hostage at East Chapel Hill High School. After being talked out of shooting the hostages, Foster fired two shots through a classroom window before fleeing the school on foot. Foster’s father testified that his son had stopped taking his antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs without telling him.
16. Red Lake, Minnesota – March 21, 2005: 16-year-old Jeff Weise, on Prozac, shot and killed his grandparents, then went to his school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation where he shot dead 5 students, a security guard, and a teacher, and wounded 7 before killing himself.
17. Greenbush, New York – February 2004: 16-year-old Jon Romano strolled into his high school in east Greenbush and opened fire with a shotgun. Special education teacher Michael Bennett was hit in the leg. Romano had been taking “medication for depression”. He had previously seen a psychiatrist.
18. Red Lion, Pennsylvania – February 2, 2001: 56-year-old William Michael Stankewicz entered North Hopewell-Winterstown Elementary School with a machete, leaving three adults and 11 children injured. Stankewicz was taking four different drugs for depression and anxiety weeks before the attacks.
19. Ikeda, Japan – June 8, 2001: 37-year-old Mamoru Takuma, wielding a 6-inch knife, slipped into an elementary school and stabbed eight first- and second-graders to death while wounding at least 15 other pupils and teachers. He then turned the knife on himself but suffered only superficial wounds. He later told interrogators that before the attack he had taken 10 times his normal dose of antidepressants.
20. Wahluke, Washington – April 10, 2001: Sixteen-year-old Cory Baadsgaard took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates and a teacher hostage. He had been taking the antidepressant Effexor.
21. El Cajon, California – March 22, 2001: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, on the antidepressants Celexa and Effexor, opened fire on his classmates, wounding three students and two teachers at Granite Hills High School. He had been seeing a psychiatrist before the shooting.
22. Williamsport, Pennsylvania – March 7, 2001: 14-year-old Elizabeth Bush was taking the antidepressant Prozac when she shot at fellow students, wounding one.
23. Oxnard, California – January 2001: 17-year-old Richard Lopez went to Hueneme High School with a gun and shot twice at a car in the school’s parking lot before taking a female student hostage. Lopez was eventually killed by a SWAT officer. He had been prescribed Prozac, Paxil and “drugs that helped him go to sleep.”
24. Conyers, Georgia – May 20, 1999: 15-year-old T.J. Solomon was being treated with the stimulant Ritalin when he opened fire on and wounded six of his classmates.
25. Columbine, Colorado – April 20, 1999: 18-year-old Eric Harris and his accomplice, Dylan Klebold, killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 26 others before killing themselves. Harris was on the antidepressant Luvox. Klebold’s medical records remain sealed. Both shooters had been in anger-management classes and had undergone counseling. Harris had been seeing a psychiatrist before the shooting.
26. Notus, Idaho – April 16, 1999: 15-year-old Shawn Cooper fired two shotgun rounds in his school, narrowly missing students. He was taking a prescribed antidepressant and Ritalin.
27. Springfield, Oregon – May 21, 1998: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his parents and then proceeded to school where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 25. Kinkel had been taking the antidepressant Prozac. Kinkel had been attending “anger control classes” and was under the care of a psychologist.
28. Blackville, South Carolina – October 12, 1995: 15-year-old Toby R. Sincino slipped into the Blackville-Hilda High School’s rear entrance, where he shot two Blackville-Hilda High School teachers, killing one. Then Toby killed himself moments later. His aunt, Carolyn McCreary, said he had been undergoing counseling with the Department of Mental Health and was taking Zoloft for emotional problems.
29. Chelsea, Michigan – December 17, 1993: 39-year-old chemistry teacher Stephen Leith, facing a disciplinary matter at Chelsea High School, shot Superintendent Joseph Piasecki to death, shot Principal Ron Mead in the leg, and slightly wounded journalism teacher Phil Jones. Leith was taking Prozac and had been seeing a psychiatrist.
30. Houston, Texas – September 18, 1992: 44-year-old Calvin Charles Bell, reportedly upset about his second-grader’s progress report, appeared in the principal’s office of Piney Point Elementary School. Bell fired a gun in the school, and eventually wounded two officers before surrendering. Relatives told police on Friday that Bell was an unemployed Vietnam veteran and had been taking anti-depressants.
31. Winnetka, Illinois – 20 May 1988: 30-year-old Laurie Wasserman Dann walked into a second grade classroom at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Illinois carrying three pistols and began shooting children, killing an eight-year-old boy, and wounding five others before fleeing. She entered a nearby house where she shot and wounded a 20-year-old man before killing herself. Dann had been seeing a psychiatrist and subsequent blood tests revealed that at the time of the killings, she was taking the antidepressant Anafranil.

School Shooters on Drugs | CCHR International
 
Things like ADD/ADHD can often be managed without medication. My brother found Omega 3 supplements rid him of many of his ADD symptoms, a friend 'cured' his ADHD by cutting out preservatives. Going straight to medicating children, without exploring other options, is sheer laziness.

My nephew removed high fructose corn syrup from his diet and has had stellar results.
 
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that drugs are being over-prescribed across the board. And while sure...we can blame the psycho-pharm community for making samples so readily available and doctors for dispensing drugs like pez, society at large also bears a large share of the blame. Doctors I know get to the point where they just get tired of trying to convince people they arent sick or that maybe what their kids really need is for their parents to take a parenting class or two and instead, give the people what they want. Doctors dont like illnesses they cant cure. EVERYTHING must have a medical solution. Psychiatrists didnt go to medical school so they can do talk therapy dammit.

Its a problem. Its a problem across the board.
 
Up to 8,000,000 children take psychotropic drugs. Between 1994 and 2001, the number of children on psychotropic medication has increased by 60%. The dramatic increase in the use of psychotropics coincides with pharmaceuticals increase in development and marketing of several new psychotropic drugs and the rebranding of older ones.

^^ I have no reason to doubt the above is true. Psychotropic medications overprescribed to children, study suggests

More than half of the 429 known reactions to psychotropic medications are deemed serious.

Documented Side Effects of ADHD Drugs:
Source: Physicians Desk Reference, National Institutes of Health’s Medline Plus, and/or the drug label.

Aggression/hostility Agitation
Blood pressure changes
Changes in vision or blurred vision
Depression
Dizziness or faintness
Fever
Hallucinations
Heart attack
Hives
Hypersensitivity
Impotence
Increased irritability
Insomnia


Involuntary tics/twitching
Irregular heartbeat
Liver problems
Loss of appetite
Mania
Mental/mood changes
Muscle/joint tightness
Nausea
Nervousness
Painful menstruation
Psychosis
Restlessness
Seizures
Sexual dysfunction
Slow/difficult speech
Stomach pain
Stroke
Stunted growth
Sudden death
Suicidal thoughts
Swelling of face or throat
Tourette’s Syndrome
Toxic psychosis
Unusual bleeding/bruising
Unusual sadness/crying
Violent behavior
Vomiting
Weight loss
“Zombie” demeanor

ADHD Drug Side Effects | CCHR International

9.5% of children have been diagnosed with ADHD.
CDC - ADHD, Data and Statistics - NCBDDD

If we want to know why children are committing suicide and shooting up movie theaters and schools? I think we need to take a good, hard look at these medications and their known side effects.

We are medicating our children into oblivion . . . with the encouragement of the medical community, pharmaceutical companies and school systems.

Someday we'll know this is true. Your thoughts?




I'd like to know what the stats are on chronic drug abuse with these kids. I would not be surprised to learn that a kid who today develops a heroin, coke or meth addiction probably also spent years taking one of those pharmaceuticals.
 
I'd like to know what the stats are on chronic drug abuse with these kids. I would not be surprised to learn that a kid who today develops a heroin, coke or meth addiction probably also spent years taking one of those pharmaceuticals.

I know two adults who were on ritalin throughout their childhood. Both of these people were addicted to street drugs as young adults. At least one of them (the only one I'm still in contact with) is STILL on anti-anxiety meds and is a complete mess as a human being. I knew her both before and after her start on ritalin. She was a normal little girl, very bright and loving. Her parents became addicted to cocaine; she became a mess of a 12-year-old, and the medication began.

Very sad.
 
I know two adults who were on ritalin throughout their childhood. Both of these people were addicted to street drugs as young adults. At least one of them (the only one I'm still in contact with) is STILL on anti-anxiety meds and is a complete mess as a human being. I knew her both before and after her start on ritalin. She was a normal little girl, very bright and loving. Her parents became addicted to cocaine; she became a mess of a 12-year-old, and the medication began.

Very sad.
Yes. IMO, the whole Ritalin thing usually starts with bad parents. The kids we know who are on those meds have parents that are:

a.) Divorced
b.) lazy and selfish parents, typically too busy taking care of their own needs and using the TV or Video games as a babysitter.
 
We are a quick-fix culture and drugs lead the way sadly in our children. The numbers on autism in children is alarming. I also just read last week one big concern on the alarming number of soldiers committing suicide is linked strongly to the psycho drugs they are given during they service. This is as you say a crisis but what if anything is being done?! I hate to point a finger at corporate America which is the thing to do now days but the pharmaceutical lobby is a powerhouse in DC. Add to the drugs, processed crappy food and schools declaring the game of tag to violent and banning recess to excercise these kids will look like Yabba The Hut by the time they are 12 and be dead at 17.
 
We are a quick-fix culture and drugs lead the way sadly in our children. The numbers on autism in children is alarming. I also just read last week one big concern on the alarming number of soldiers committing suicide is linked strongly to the psycho drugs they are given during they service. This is as you say a crisis but what if anything is being done?! I hate to point a finger at corporate America which is the thing to do now days but the pharmaceutical lobby is a powerhouse in DC. Add to the drugs, processed crappy food and schools declaring the game of tag to violent and banning recess to excercise these kids will look like Yabba The Hut by the time they are 12 and be dead at 17.

I completely agree with you. And I blame the pharmaceutical industry, doctors who label these kids abnormal, school districts who encourage testing and profit with funding from the diagnosis, and parents who think nothing of labeling their young children with a psychological diagnosis that will follow then for a lifetime.
 
Good thread Maggie!

For me, this relationship between psychoactive drug therapy in youngsters and violent actions, especially shooting incidents, has been apparent since Columbine.

I'm pretty sure that prescribing many, if not all of those drugs, to youngsters is "off label" prescribing, and against the rules.

A complicating factor, from what I've heard (my kids are grown and gone), is that so many teachers want the kids to be medicated so they will behave better in class.

I think this relationship has been mentioned in Congress, but only a time or two. Then it is swept under the rug and the media won't discuss it either.
 
Good thread Maggie!

For me, this relationship between psychoactive drug therapy in youngsters and violent actions, especially shooting incidents, has been apparent since Columbine.

I'm pretty sure that prescribing many, if not all of those drugs, to youngsters is "off label" prescribing, and against the rules.

A complicating factor, from what I've heard (my kids are grown and gone), is that so many teachers want the kids to be medicated so they will behave better in class.

I think this relationship has been mentioned in Congress, but only a time or two. Then it is swept under the rug and the media won't discuss it either.

Big Pharma is going to do all it can - which is considerable - to keep the public attention away from its crimes against humanity. To date they have been most successful. Also, they are working hard to outlaw over the counter homeopathic solutions. Is red rice yeast better for you than statins? Yes, but leave to Big Pharma and soon you'll have to get a prescription for that.
 
Big Pharma is going to do all it can - which is considerable - to keep the public attention away from its crimes against humanity. To date they have been most successful. Also, they are working hard to outlaw over the counter homeopathic solutions. Is red rice yeast better for you than statins? Yes, but leave to Big Pharma and soon you'll have to get a prescription for that.

Agreed. IMO Big Pharma was greatly enabled and made rich when Bill Clinton changed the old rules regarding advertising of prescription drugs. For years in this country, prescription drugs could not be advertised direct to the public, but only in professional magazines to medical professionals. Country Boy Bill changed all that for Big Pharma, and now we are inundated with ads for all sorts of drugs.

And they wonder why the younger generations have such drug problems. :(
 
Up to 8,000,000 children take psychotropic drugs. Between 1994 and 2001, the number of children on psychotropic medication has increased by 60%. The dramatic increase in the use of psychotropics coincides with pharmaceuticals increase in development and marketing of several new psychotropic drugs and the rebranding of older ones.

...

It's a very dangerous trend. The thing about young children is that they have similar-looking reactions to a lot of different kinds of distress. A child who's got a nutritional problem shows pretty much exactly the same symptoms as a child with a legitimate mental health problem. And more often than not, no physiological cause is ever investigated.

I almost got sucked into this as a young child. I was diagnosed as ADHD. My pediatrician handed my dad a prescription for Ritalin, and he told the doc to go **** himself. I never had an attention problem.

No one figured out what my problem was until I was 19. I had a sensory integration issue -- specifically auditory. It's pretty common in kids who were like me. Bright and creative. But there was no awareness of the issues these kinds of kids can have in the early 90's.

These days, they can spot sensory problems in toddlerhood, and they deal with it by giving them a few months of sensory therapy. No meds.

But back then, all these kids got thrown into the ADD/ADHD bandwagon, because they acted out for seemingly no reason, and that was interpreted as a hyperactive attention problem.

As I have gotten older, things have not gotten easier, although I have gotten a lot better at dealing with it. I am pretty much the classic picture of an eccentric writer and I've had a variety of mental health problems. And undoubtedly, there are people who are afflicted to the point where meds are really their best option. But that's not the case for me.

And that's the reason why, whenever I had felt I need some outside input, I went to a therapist and not a psychiatrist. I know a psychiatrist will just throw meds at me. A therapist won't refer me on unless they really believe I need that.

I've even had a therapist tell me never to see a psychiatrist unless I feel I'm in imminent danger. I am the kind of person they love to give drugs to: someone with a convoluted constellation of unusual traits that they could diagnosis with anything they want.

To be honest, I feel sort of threatened by the psychiatric industry that tries to pathologize practically everything. And I am incredibly lucky that my dad and the mental health professionals I have seen have acted as a barrier between me and that system.

I turned out alright. But the psychiatric industry never would have given me the chance.
 
Sadly, we're medicating our children so that our parents don't have to change their relationship from a causative dysfunctional to a remedy functional one.

Also sadly, it is difficult for parents to change their relationship for the better because they too are often medicated ..

.. As necessary to cope with anxiety- and depression- causing geopolitical-socioeconomic conditions like The Great Recession, the lack of living-wage recovery, out-sourced and in-sourced job loss, stupid government-closing economy-threatening White House behavior, etc.

Until the bigger and more powerful causes are neutralized, anxiety and depression will continue to be "scapegoated" all the way down onto our kids, perpetuating the generational cycle of learned helplessness.
 
Back
Top Bottom