by Ben Swann, Freedom OutPost:
The response to the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida has been call after call for tougher gun laws, but seems to ignore the issues once again surrounding antidepressants.
Let’s start with a question. When it comes to the debate over mass shootings in America, why does the discussion always go toward tougher gun laws?
And yet, we are not talking about the role of antidepressants and other psychiatric medication.
The truth? The connection between mass shooters and these medications is stunning.
Let’s give it a Reality Check you won’t get anywhere else.
The response to the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida has been call after call for tougher gun laws, but seems to ignore the issues once again surrounding antidepressants.
Without question, Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old man who killed 17 students and wounded more than a dozen that afternoon February 14, had for years exhibited signs of mental health problems. We talked about it on Reality Check a few episodes back.
Here’s what we know about Cruz.
Cruz’s adoptive father Roger Cruz died more than a decade ago, and his adoptive mother Lynda Cruz reportedly struggled with her son and his brother Zachary until her death in November 2017.
Barbara Kumbatovich, a former sister-in-law, told the Miami Herald, that Lynda Cruz “did the best she could,” and that Nikolas and Zachary “were adopted and had some emotional issues.”
Kumbatovich told the publication that she believed Nikolas was on medication to deal with those issues and that Lynda “was struggling with Nikolas the last couple years.”
In addition to Kubatovich’s statements, records show that police were called to the Cruz residence as many as 45 times since 2008, according to Buzzfeed News.
Between reports that Cruz had previously pulled a gun on his brother and mother, and an anonymous FBI tip from January that Cruz had been suicidal but then decided “he wants to kill people” and that he was “going to explode”… all evidence is indicating a clearly unstable young man with numerous documented concerns from those who knew him.
We still don’t know what, if any medications Cruz might have been on. But we do know that the number of high profile mass shootings over the past 30 years, and the link to psychiatric medication, is deeply concerning.
In 1989, 47-year-old Joseph T. Wesbecker shot 20 workers in a Louisville, Kentucky factory, killing nine people… just a month after he began taking Prozac. The drugmaker, Eli Lilly and Company, later settled a lawsuit brought by survivors.
1998: 15-year-old Oregon school shooter Kip Kinkel, who opened fire in his school cafeteria, he was on Prozac.
1999: Columbine killer Eric Harris was taking Luvox, another antidepressant.
An important fact about Luvox. According to author David Kupelian from his book, How Evil Works, “Luvox manufacturer Solvay Pharmaceuticals concedes that during short-term controlled clinical trials, 4 percent of children and youth taking Luvox — that’s one in 25 — developed mania, a dangerous and violence-prone mental derangement characterized by extreme excitement and delusion.”
In 2005, 16-year-old Jeff Weise, living on Minnesota’s Red Lake Indian Reservation, shot and killed nine people and wounded five others before killing himself. Weise had been taking Prozac.
2007: Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, he shot and killed 32 people. Officials found prescription medicine “related to the treatment of psychological problems” among his personal belongings, according to the New York Times.
2012: Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was reportedly prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft.
2013: Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis sprayed bullets at office workers and in a cafeteria, killing 13 people including himself. Alexis had been prescribed Trazodone by his Veterans Affairs doctor.
Read More @ FreedomOutPost.com
