Drugs and Gun Violence

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When Drugs Backfire,

Causing Gunfire

December 18, 2012, COMMENTARY by DR. RICHARD SCHULZE

In EVERY case of mass shootings in the last few decades, the killers were later found out to be taking LEGAL, medical doctor prescribed, pharmaceutical, mind-altering, prescription drugs. This recent horrifying tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut will be no different.

Medical doctors won’t stop messing with our kids’ minds, that is the problem here. It is not really about gun control, the issue here is pharmaceutical drug control!

You won’t hear this talked about or debated on the pharmaceutically sponsored television networks or cable news shows. This is one issue too hot to handle and NONE of them will touch it. That is why I do. I MUST!

I am not making a political statement for or against gun control, even though I find it interesting that Connecticut has some of the strictest gun control laws in the entire United States. I am just pointing out here that as usual, after any horrifying senseless killing spree, to ease our pain, it is much easier to strike out and blame the weapon of choice, than get to the real cause of the problem. So we will continue to blame guns, bullets, knives, hammers, sharpened screwdrivers, bricks or whatever other tools these drug induced murderers use, or the people who sell the tools or manufacture them, instead of looking at the WHY!

WHY did these kids kill other kids? That is the real question here, and answering that question will give us the real solution.

Drugs Cause Violence,

but NOT the Drugs you Think!

Take a look back at any of the school, movie theater or wherever shootings in the last few decades done by teenagers or young adults—from Columbine to Virginia Tech to the Aurora Movie Theater to Newtown.

YES, these kids were ALL on drugs, but not Crack, PCP, Heroin, Methamphetamines, Ecstasy, LSD or even Pot. So while principals, social workers, parents and teachers alike are worrying about street drugs and pushers infiltrating our schools and exposing our children, we should instead be worrying about what the school nurse is pushing in her white cart down the hallway.

EVERY single one of these murdering kids in the last few decades was treated by medical doctors, with numerous mind-altering or mood-altering drugs, in many instances since childhood, for depression, hyperactivity, ADD, ADHD, Bipolar Syndrome or dozens of other new kid’s diseases.

First of all, besides a rare case of depression, none of these diseases even existed in our children 30 years ago. The late Dr. Robert Mendelssohn, one of the nation’s former leading pediatricians, in his books, ‘How To Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor’ and ‘Confessions of a Medical Heretic’ stated that most of these new childhood “diseases” are nothing more than typical childhood behavior, that we all witnessed when we were kids. But today, because of classroom overcrowding, overworked teachers and stressed out parents, drugs are an easier choice to numb the minds of unruly kids. Turning these kids into well-behaved zombies, well that is “well behaved” until they backfire and become killers.

In public and private schools today, it is not an unusual sight to see the school nurse pushing a drug cart, just like in a hospital, going from classroom to classroom, dispensing mind-altering drugs to a surprising number of the students.

But beyond a few bad teachers and some lazy parents, we have to take a look at ALL the causes. Besides the huge surge in sugar and artificial everything, and serious lack of nutrition and exercise in our kids’ lives, we have to look at the pharmaceutical drugs the parents took before and during pregnancy.

We should also look at childhood vaccinations. In 1983, only seven vaccinations were suggested for kids. Thirty years later, in 2012, medical authorities now suggest SIXTY childhood vaccinations. This 2012, 60-vaccination schedule put out by the federal government’s Center for Disease Control is approved and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatric Physicians, The American Academy of Family Physicians and the Department of Health and Human Services. Our kids don’t have a fighting chance!

Finally, we have to look at all the prescription drugs now being begged for by parents, prescribed by medical doctors and taken by children, and see what role these play in causing these slaughters of the innocent.

So is this explosive, violent, murderous and eventually suicidal behavior directly caused by pharmaceutical drugs? ABSOLUTELY!

Black Box Warnings

The FDA has warned us for over a decade about how these drugs backfire and cause violent and suicidal behavior in children and adolescents, and later increased this warning to include young adults up to the age of 25.

There is a Black Box Warning on ALL of these types of drugs, the most serious and highest level of warning demanded by the FDA stating: “These drugs may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and suicidal behavior in children and young adults.”

“MAY increase” IS NOT TRUE. In every study done, these drugs ABSOLUTELY DID INCREASE the suicidal thinking and suicidal behavior!

In some studies the results were squashed quickly, up to 35% of the participants experienced suicidal thoughts and many others attempted suicide. But the final percentage was the minimal, and lowered to a 4% increase. The final medical decision was the typical and usual, “The benefit of these drugs outweigh the 4% negative side effects”. This means that if we believe the drug manufacturers, out of 100 kids taking these drugs, a minimum of 4 will have suicidal thinking and suicidal behavior. The harsh reality is that your kids are locked in a school with other kids that are at least thinking about killing themselves, if not killing everyone else FIRST.

From the FDA.gov website…

Suicidality and Antidepressant Drugs

Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking AND BEHAVIOR (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [insert established name] or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent, or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction in risk with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults aged 65 and older. Depression and certain other psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide. Patients of all ages who are started on antidepressant therapy should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber. [insert Drug Name] is not approved for use in pediatric patients. [The previous sentence would be replaced with the sentence, below, for the following drugs: Prozac: Prozac is approved for use in pediatric patients with MDD and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Zoloft: Zoloft is not approved for use in pediatric patients except for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Fluvoxamine: Fluvoxamine is not approved for use in pediatric patients except for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).] (See Warnings: Clinical Worsening and Suicide Risk, Precautions: Information for Patients, and Precautions: Pediatric Use)

The FDA Bottom Line

All patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be monitored appropriately and OBSERVED CLOSELY for clinical worsening, SUICIDALITY, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases.

In Closing

Let’s not blame hairstyles, clothing, music, books, movies, video games, or even guns or ammunition, I have heard all of that before. And even though I would like to, we cannot even totally blame pharmaceutical drugs, as violence has existed on this planet long before any of these things.

Let’s put the blame right where it belongs, on the adults surrounding this emotionally ill kid, who were supposedly supervising him. Sure, he may have made bad choices in life, but the adults around him made worse choices while watching him drown in his own depression. They used condemnation and drugs instead of love and hugs, and the first therapy has ruined more kids’ lives than the Beatles haircuts, Elvis’s hips, or the Beat Generation Poets.

In every case of these violent mass murders, the parents, the principals, the social workers, the teachers and the medical doctors prescribing the drugs, ALL knew well ahead of the incident that these kids were emotionally unwell, had problems, were displaying inappropriate or weird behavior, and worse, they knew these children were taking medically prescribed drugs that are known to backfire, are known to cause suicidal thoughts and known to cause suicidal behavior and incidents, AND THEY DID NOTHING ABOUT IT!

This is the problem, and this is also the solution!

My love goes out to the parents, and my prayers go to the children.

— Dr. Schulze

PS: Instead of putting schools on lockdown, maybe we should consider putting kids on dangerous behavior-modifying medications that are displaying anti-social tendencies in a room and LOCKING THE DOOR, and keep them away from the rest of the kids who just want to have a fun day. OK, I said it, and this will get me a thousand hate mail letters.