And I thought all along that guns were emitting evil rays that made people go on mass shootings.

Hang on a second, shouldn't the same anti-gun doctors who hand out prescriptions for these anti-depressants like candy, be held accountable as accessories to the crimes?

[url]www.jointogether.org/gv/wire/news/reader.jtml?Object_ID=267870[/url]

A jury found drug maker Glaxo-SmithKline liable for a shooting rampage that resulted in the death of a family, the Los Angeles Times reported June 8.
A Wyoming jury ordered Glaxo to pay $6.4 million to relatives of Donald Schell. The 60-year-old man went on a shooting rampage after taking the antidepressant Paxil. Schell killed his wife, Rita, his daughter, Deborah Schell Tobin, and his granddaughter, Alyssa Tobin, before turning the gun on himself.

Several families of Paxil users have filed lawsuits claiming the drug can cause violent reactions in patients. Glaxo research has found that some Paxil users experience hallucinations, psychosis, suicide attempts, and aggressive behavior while on the drug.

"We hope that SmithKline will heed the verdict and issue appropriate warnings so that no other families will have to endure this type of preventable tragedy," said Jim Fitzgerald, a Cheyenne-based lawyer representing the family.

Glaxo officials plan to appeal the verdict. "We believe this tragedy was caused by the disease, not the treatment," said Mary Anne Rhyne, a Glaxo spokeswoman based in Raleigh, N.C.

I'm beginning to wonder if trial by jury is such a good thing anymore.

Where do they get these juries from???

In the long view, this is probably a good thing.

The Pharmaceuticals will appeal the verdict, and they have the money to fight this decision with.

The decision  will most likely be overturned on appeal. And then gun manufacturers will have more case law to defend themselves against these frivilous product liability suits.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking crack.

Hallucinations rule!

Are you kidding garandman? This is long overdue. These type drugs have been part of the "mass murder" problem since the start. Do a little research and it's amazing the number of high profile shootings that they were a factor in. It's about time this piece of the puzzle got some public attention. Misuse of mind altering drugs should have some liability for the shrinks that prescribe them and of course crimminal behavior of the users should also be punished.

Anti-depressants do appear to be statistically linked to many mass shootings. But..

Trial by jury is a good thing. It's jury selection that's been screwed up. We currently allow WAY too much freedom to the attorneys, and in the pre-screening. It should be completely RANDOM. Ie, roll your dice and if you're number comes up - you serve.  If you can't serve, you should be allowed to reschedule. You shouldn't be able to get out of serving any more than you can get out of paying your taxes. The best you can get is an extension.

Too many people expend so much effort trying to get out of jury duty - and this doesn't help the fact that they're stacking the box already. I believe your duty as an American citizen includes 1) Paying taxes. 2) Voting. 3) Serving on a jury when called. 4) Owning weapons suitable to satisfy Thomas Jeffersons requirements for liberty.

[When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, that is tyranny.]

Hmmm,

I've been on Paxil for almost a year and haven't had a single urge to go on a rampage.


[uzi]

If the idiot drug laws were not in  force the poor fella wouldnt have had to take that corporate crap and could have just had a little weed or mushrooms and he would have been fine!

I've known about this shit for a long time. There are other drugs that can make people go postal as well, not all people, some people. Another reason to NOT give your kids any drugs of any kind, specially the Anti-ADD kind. Hell, I feel like going postal if I take Contact, and almost have. Scary.

Well what are you waiting for? There's gold in them there hills.

Who takes anti-depressants and anti-psycotics? Crazy people!!  Who shoots up schools and malls? Crazy people!  I should imagine ALL of our mass shooters  have been taking or are taking some sort of brain drugs.   Goes to show, that folks who arent wired right do weird things.  Normal folks dont just"snap".  Blaming the drug a nutcase is taking for his problem is like blaming the weatherman for rain or the post office for your bills that come in the mail.  These shooters are crazy BEFORE that start popping Glaxo  pills. The pills dont make them that way.

Of course it's true that most perpetrators of these rampages are on psycho-active drugs.  These people are [b]psychos[/b], after all, and predisposed to do crazy stuff.

What if these drugs are actually very effective in stopping this behavior in 99.9% of psychos, and it's only the small percentage of whackos that don't respond and would've done it anyway?  So maybe these drugs actually [b]prevent[/b] hundreds of rampages per year, and restricting them would actually lead to [b]more[/b] of them.

You know - kind of like outlawing guns to cut down on crime.....

[whacko]

the other thing people forget is that most of the rampage shooters well almopst al of em that were on drugs STOPPED TAKING THEM prior to the shooting!

and yeas i agree that anti ADD drugs are being handed out way to much

Exactly! It's when they quit taking the drugs that you have problems.

IIRC, most of the school shooters were on Prozac.

Kharn

Most people with drepression or other mental illness are on some form of drug therapy.  The fact that some small percentage of them go on a rampage does not support a conclusion that the drug CAUSED the rampage.

Most people with heart trouble are on heart medication. Does the fact that a significant number of people die of heart disease while taking heart medication mean the heart medication causes the deaths?  Of course not.  

By the way, what type of warning on a pill bottle would prevent someone from killing his family in shooting rampage?

[url]www.dadi.org/prozac.htm[/url]

"I've seen some disturbed children who've become psychotic," or deranged, after taking Prozac, he said. He added that the drug "precipitated psychotic panic" in those children."- Dr. Donald L. Rosenblitt, medical director of the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood

"There's still a lot we don't know about using these medications in kids," said Dr. David G. Fassler, a Vermont psychiatrist and chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Children, Adolescents and their Families. "We don't know about their long-term effects. Children are not just small adults."
   

" In the Feb 90 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry there was a report by Dr. Martin H. Teicher of the Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. The report indicated that Prozac does indeed induce suicidal and homicidal tendencies. From his study Teicher predicted that from 1.9 to 7.7% of Prozac users may be at risk for suicide, mania, and violent behavior" From American Firearms Industry---Jan 91---Bob Lesmeister

New Jersey man goes on rampage (AP) -  Newark - A New Jersey man went on a shooting rampage late Tuesday night, wounding several bystanders at a local movie theatre before killing himself.  Preliminary autopsy reports indicate that the man was suffering from chronic constipation, apparently instigated by several helpings of Bobby's brand baked beans the night before.  'He's just full of crap', the local coroner was quoted as saying.  'He must have been in tremendous pain.'  Police speculate that the as yet unidentified man, a concealed carry permit holder, was mearly trying to make his way to the closest public restroom when he was halted by a post-movie crowd prohibiting his immmediate use of the facilities.  The Attroney General's office for the state is currently examining the possibility of bringing charges against the baked-bean giant for failing to document that excessive use of their product in the proximity of a firearm could be dangerous.

[%|]

In all seriousness, what exactly are these drugs used for?  I always thought they treated a mental illness.  Last time I filled out an application for a firearm, I think that may have been addressed to some point down in the fine print.  It's sad what happened to this guys family, but I think his problems may have gone a little deeper than the pill he popped the night before.  It's quite impossible for any company to contingency plan for each and every mindset that it's product will come into contact with.

1. Patrick Purdy ---5 dead---29 wounded---Killed self.
Thorazine, Amitriptyline,and Mellaril.

2. Laurie Dann (I Don't Like Mondays)---1 dead---6 wounded---Killed self.
Anafranil and Lithium.

3. Joseph Wesbecker---7 dead---12 wounded---Killed self.
Prozac.

4. James Wilson---2 killed---7 wounded.
Xanax, Valium, Vistaril, Mettaril, Thorazine, Tofranil, and Halcion.

Go to Google. Do a search on "Prozac Murders" and "Paxil Murders" and see what comes up...

I've done a little research on this myself and have found that these quacks (shrinks) will dispense these drugs in a heartbeat. I know a few people that have gone to a "therepist" for a not very serious problem thinking they would get help when all they really got was a drug addiction. The speil goes like this "it takes the drug about 6 weeks to work" that is a desciption of becoming addicted to a drug. I know a guy who was a little hyper and got some prosac. He then flunked out of grad school, he was making good grades but after the prosac he got sidetracked easily and could not concentrate. He quite taking it and got kicked out of a neighborhood kroger. Eventually he got ok again and now has a wife and kids.
  They give these drugs to everyone, not just "crazy" people. Just last week I went to the doctor for a cold and mentioned that I had a bad week at work. THEY OFFERED TO GIVE ME A PRESCIPTION FOR ZOLOFT!!!  I couldn't believe it!!! We've had crazy people all along but until these "drugs" came alone they only hurt themselves. I work with a few of these drug zombies myself, their just as fucked up as before they got the drug, they just don't seem to know it. Maybe the drugs aren't bad for all people but the psychiatry industry doesn't seem to interested in learning about or admitting that the drugs may have side effects, they just want to push pills. I don't know anyone who has taken them that has stopped very easily. If I have a cold and get antibiotics I quit taking them once the infection is over. If someone is experianceing a difficult time, they get the drug, then keep on taking it forever it seems. And don't give me that chemical imbalence crap, it's a bunch of unprovable baloney. Another co-worker of mine has a 7 year old grandchild that was on allderal and paxil 2 times a day. The child wasn't bad till the drugs, the mother read some psychbabble and decided the child needed drugs so she shopped around till she found someone that would prescribe them. Then the wierdness began. The response to that was more drugs. The child was peeing her pants at school!! Now the father has custody of the child and there are no drugs in the picture. The child seems to be doing fine now.
 I read an interview on worldnetdaily awhile back with someone involved in a group that is tracking such abuses. What I read was very frightening and seemed to indicate a conspiracy in the psych field.

This just in off the press! A texas women being treated for depression just killed all five of her kids. See the story on drudge report. Apparently she has been depressed for awhile and attempted suicide in the past. This time she killed her kids instead of herself, five of them. Now she has something to really be depressed about.

I agree that the people taking these drugs are taking them for exsisting mental problems so we shouldn't be too suprised when they do something crazy.  I also agree that some doctors prescribe these mediation too often.  From what I have seen most of the weird behavior occurs when someone on these medications stops taking them.