Is It Drugs not Guns Causing Shootings?
We as a country are still reeling from the unspeakable tragedy of the Parkland, Fl, shootings.
After Sandy Hook we said “never again.”
That is when I wrote this article in the Huffington Post, on Feb 19, 2013, about the effects of psychiatric drugs in causing violence. And then we let 1,607 mass shootings happen. Here is a map of mass shootings since then. When reading the article, just substitute Parkland, Florida or any of the other 1607 locations. Clearly, and horribly, the situation has simply gotten worse.
Is it Drugs Not Guns that Cause Violence?
Reprinted from Huffington Post 02/19/2013 (5 years ago)
Hyla Cass M.D.
With the media fixated on guns and violent video games, Connecticut’s chief medical examiner says he’s seeking genetic clues to help explain why a shooter killed twenty children and six adults in a Newtown elementary school. 60 Minutes reported that Adam Lanza was taking prescribed medication, but the mainstream media failed to follow up on this.
Sure, guns are rampant, too easy to get, and should clearly not fall into the hands of mentally disordered people, and violent video games are priming the pump – – all issues that I deem important to address, but I will leave that to all the others who have done it justice to date.
A common thread amongst the most horrific school shootings of the past 25 years is that the majority of the shooters were taking a psychiatric medication.
As a psychiatrist who is all too familiar with this issue, I am dismayed at this oversight, and believe that these tragedies should also contain some lessons going forward – both for the public and for prescribing doctors.[click here to continue]
Yours in good health.
