George Lucas's film released on March 11,
1971
It should be noted that most of the users of psychotropic drugs do not have the potential to be mass murderers; yet all of the mass murderers listed here had been prescribed one or more psychotropic drug. However, the number of people who could potentially experience one or more adverse side effects was shocking!
As noted later, in some cases only one in 1,
000 people experience adverseside effects, but if the drug were prescribed to 19 million people, literally thousands of people could experience adverse side effects.
What follows is the result of my research and question, “What psychotropic drugs where prescribed to mass murders?”
At the end of this article is a list of the drugs prescribed and their most serious adverse side effects.
John Hinckley (
1981) John Hinckley, age 25, took four Valium two hours before shooting and almost killing
President Ronald Reagan in 1981
. In the assassination attempt,
Hinckley also wounded press secretary
James Brady,
Secret Service agent
Timothy McCarthy and policeman
Thomas Delahanty.
Laurie Dann (
1988) In 1988, 31-year-old Laurie Dann went on a shooting rampage in a second-grade classroom in
Winnetka, IL, killing one child and wounding six. She had been taking the anti-depressant Anafranil as well as
Lithium, long used to treat mania.
Patrick Purdy (
1989) Patrick Purdy went on a schoolyard shooting rampage in
Stockton, CA, in 1989, which became the catalyst for the original legislative frenzy to ban "semiautomatic assault weapons" in
California and the nation. The 25-year-old
Purdy, who murdered five children and wounded 30, had been on Amitriptvine, an anti-depressant, as well as the antipsychotic drug Thorazine.
Joseph T. Wesbecker (1989) In another famous case, 47-year-old Joseph T. Wesbecker, just a month after he began taking
Prozac in 1989, shot 20 workers at
Standard Gravure Corp. in
Louisville, Ky., killing nine. Prozac maker
Eli Lilly later settled a lawsuit brought by survivors.
Kurt Danysh (
1996) Kurt Danysh, 18, shot his own father to death in 1996, a little more than two weeks after starting on Prozac. Danvsh's description of own his mental-emotional state at the time of the murder is chilling: "I didn't realize I did it until after it was done."
Danysh said. "This might sound weird, but it felt like I had no control of what I was doing, like I was left there just holding a gun."
Michael Carneal (
1997) In
Paducah, KY, in late 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, son of a prominent attorney, traveled to
Heath High School and started shooting students in a prayer meeting taking place in the school's lobby, killing three and leaving another paralyzed. Carneal reportedly was on Ritalin.
Kip Kinkel (
1998) Kip Kinkel, 15, murdered his parents in 1998 and the next day went to his school, Thurston
High in
Springfield, Ore., and opened fire on his classmates, killing two and wounding 22 others. He had been prescribed both Prozac and Ritalin.
- published: 20 Jul 2015
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