First They Go To A Psychiatrist, Then They Go Insane

First they go to a psychiatrist, then they go insane. Then while everybody else carrying out the bodies and wiping up the blood afterwards, they say, "Wow, he was insane! He was already going to a psychiatrist! They were already giving him drugs to try to stop this! They should have given him more drugs! They should have psychiatried him more!" But what they miss is he went crazy after he went to the psychiatrist. He went crazy after he took the drugs. Not before!

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Keith Hoeller wrote a great editorial on this subject.

"Another teenager has shot and murdered schoolchildren, and those who believe that "mental illness" is the cause of all our social problems have offered the standard explanation and usual solution: This child suffered from a mental illness, and if only someone had seen the symptoms and notified mental-health authorities, he would have received an accurate diagnosis and the proper medication, and the tragedy could have been prevented. If only Red Lake High School student Jeff Weise had been placed on antidepressant medications, psychiatrists say, then this murder/suicide would never have happened. The story is usually followed by calls for more mental-health screening and treatment of our nation's schoolchildren," says Hoeller.

"In most of the recent cases of school shootings, however, the signs were noticed: The child was reported to mental-health authorities, received a psychiatric diagnosis, was put on medications and was taking them when he pulled the trigger. It was true with Eric Harris of Columbine and Kip Kinkel in Oregon, as well as 10 other youths. This may be the tip of the iceberg, because this information is often kept confidential and out of the papers, even when a murder occurs.

"Now news reports indicate Weise, who murdered nine in Red Lake, Minn., before turning the gun on himself, had been suicidal and was committed to a mental hospital. He began taking an antidepressant last summer, and his dosage had been increased a week before the shootings, according to the New York Times."

Read the rest of Hoeller's article by clicking here.

So once again, we put the cart before the horse and say, "Why didn't they help him in the mental hospital? Why didn't they give him the drugs?

The answer is, they did.

Sooner or later it's gonna hit everybody like a ton 'o bricks. Psychiatrists and psychiatric drugs don't cure insanity -- they create it!

Killer Was On Prozac !!!

So it's out. The killer in Minnesota was on Prozac. We hope you didn't bet with us on that one. If you lost, mail your check to Citizen's Commission On Human Rights -- a group that works feverishly to fight the slide toward installing the psychiatrists as the High Priests, and drugging school kids.

According to the news, Jeff Weise -- the 16-year- old assailant -- was "a deeply disturbed youth who had been treated for depression in a psychiatric ward".

Once again we ask, If the psychiatric ward is supposed to help, why did he kill after he went to the psychiatric ward and not before!! We aren't going to stop asking that question, in spite of the fact it is now rhetorical (being asked for effect only because we already know the answer).

The answer of course is that psychiatry does not work. Psychiatric drugs make psychotics, they don't cure them.

He was on Prozac, and he had already been hospitalized once for suicidal tendencies -- another Prozac side-effect.

Much has been made of the rough lot he's had in life. His mother died. His father committed suicide. However, I know a woman whose father committed suicide. She and her siblings were raised at a subsistence level income by an alcoholic mother, and all three of them have college degrees and are doing very well. It's the drug, not the situation.

In fact, the next question we have to ask is, what psychiatric drug was his father on when he committed suicide?

10 Dead From Teen Shooter In Minnesota

Now we have another teen shooter. This one was in Bemidji, MN, and he killed 10 people before killing himself in a rampage through his school. Watching the news, we haven't yet see which drug he was on, but we can safely assume there was a psychiatric drug involved. We're making book on it. Wanna bet?

It isn't the first recent incident in that area. In nearby Cold Spring, MN, John Jason McLoughlin is awaiting trial for shooting two of his fellow students. We're still trying to find out what psych drug he was on, too -- but we're getting warmer; his defense is based on "insanity". To prove that, they'll have to expose his psychiatric history.

It never ceases to amaze us that the news people conspire to cover up this glaring datum; the guys (and girls) who do this stuff are victims of the school psychiatry/psychology systems, and they are on psychiatric drugs! That is what is causing this madness.

Anti-psychotics Cause Heart Attacks

Now we find out that anti-psychotics are associated with sudden cardiac death (physician-speak for heart attacks, I guess). And not just slightly!

According to the study at the above link, use of anti-psychotics was associated with a three-fold increase in the number of cardiac deaths. Or to be precise, "sudden" cardiac deaths.

It's poison.

A Little Humor

NCAA RENAMES MARCH MADNESS 'MARCH BIPOLAR DISORDER'

Under Pressure from National Institute of Mental Health, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) stunned the sports world today by announcing that its annual college basketball tournament, known to its fans as March Madness, will henceforth be known as March Bipolar Disorder.

The name-change, which both surprised and outraged devotees of the annual ritual, came after the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) demanded that the NCAA drop the "Madness" tag.

While fans across the country argued that "March Bipolar Disorder" did not have the same ring to it, a spokesperson for the NIMH said today that the new name was "more clinically accurate."
"Each year, the tournament produces extreme mood swings in both its players and its fans," said spokesperson Carol Foyler. "In our view, those symptoms are consistent with bipolar disorder."

Even as tournament purists complained that the NCAA had caved in to the medical community, sports marketing expert Colby Teague said that the name-change could open the door to new sponsorship opportunities from the manufacturers of bipolar disorder medications, such as Eli Lilly.

"I could see a scenario where next year it's called the Prozac March Bipolar Disorder," he said.

Psychiatry Makes A Hannibal Lecter

In London this time, a person who has been for years under the care of "mental health" people flew off the handle. Within hours of his release from a mental health institution, he killed a man, butchered him, then fried the man's brains in butter and ate them. He had been in the institution for a long time as a result of a previous murder.

Soo-o-o, since he killed and ate his friend, they popped him back into the mental institution, where nine weeks later, he killed a fellow inmate in a "medium security" part of the institution.

The take on this by a London Newspaper is that this unbelievable incident was due to "lapses in mental health care". This couldn't be more true, but we think our viewpoint might be a bit different that that of the newspaper. They probably thought the unfortunate fellow needed "more" mental health care. It would be our position that the current medieval mental health practices on this planet make killers like this. It is true, for instance, that this man committed a murder before he was most recently committed to the mental health facility. It is possible, even likely, that he was a victim of mental health even before that. If he had previously been given psychiatric drugs like Prozac or Paxil then he joins a group that is statistically more likely to commit insane acts such as these. However, he was treated at the mental health facility and released at which point he killed his friend and ate him for lunch.

Nothing could be a bigger indictment of the mental health system. They don't help people, they make them worse. They don't have a clue what really constitutes insanity. They don't have any way to determine whether a man or a woman or a child is truly insane. They have no workable technology -- only drugs, and methods Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition would have loved -- electroshock and brain surgery.

We will only restore sanity and safety on this planet when we end the sham called "mental health" and replace it with real care that recognizes that men are spiritual beings and that mental health is a spiritual matter, not a "chemical imbalance" or a "genetic flaw" or God forbid, a "life style choice". I for one have had enough of this.

Drug Ad Parody

Go to http://www.jibjab.com/cu.html and click "The Drugs I Need."

Making Book: Prozac? Paxil?

Okay we have another one, this time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Saturday the man walked into a church service and opened fire, killing seven others before killing himself. His name hasn't been released yet in the accounts I've read this morning. And they haven't released yet which psych drug he was taking.

This tragedy plays over and over, and it accelerates as more and more people are put on the class of psych drugs that includes Prozac, Paxil, Luvox etc., known collectively as "SSRI" drugs. These drugs cause insanity, but they are being sold, at great profits, as a way to cure insanity. The result is you take a guy or gal that's a bit unstable, tell them you're going to "help" them, and drive them around the bend with a drug that makes them insane.

We don't yet have the hard evidence that this killer is a victim of psychiatry and psych drugs. But we will. Stay tuned.

FDA Determined To Protect Reputation As Most Slimeball Government Agency

Let's move away for a moment from considering Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox and the other psychiatric drugs designated as SSRIs. These drugs are the main focus of this blog because of the mind-numbing fact that although they cause insanity, they are being used to treat insanity.

But the underlying issue is the question of what the FDA is thinking when they approve killer drugs.

Many years ago, when Prozac was rejected in Germany and England because of its suicide-related side effects, the FDA happily approved it, breaking the back of what should have been a universal rejection of the drug. Soon thereafter, a top exec at the FDA retired to a posh job at Eli Lilly, the drug company that makes Prozac. This was the beginning of the FDA's slide into the gutter. At first it looked like a few unethical mavericks had managed to line their pockets by sliming an agency that had always had the respect of Americans. But as the years have gone by it becomes more and more obvious that the FDA has completely dropped any pretense of respectability. It now moves by night under dim street lights wearing a short skirt and no underwear and way too much lipstick.

Sincere people are trying to prop up the reputation of the FDA but every best effort is undermined by repeated episodes of the FDA staggering home after midnight smelling like cheap whiskey. The latest such episode is incredible. It has to do with the Vioxx-type painkillers. When it came out that Vioxx sharply increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, the FDA quickly tugged her skirt hems down in an attempt to achieve some level of respectability, and rushed to the microphone with furrowed brow. "We'll investigate!" she said, to a grateful nation.

The investigation was shortly completed shortly thereafter. "Vioxx and it's blood brothers Celebrex and Bextra have been thoroughly investigated and they are innocent," piped the FDA, "Our blue-ribbon panel has spoken! No charges will be filed."

But this isn't our first picnic. We didn't just fall off the turnip truck. So we take a look at the FDA's blue ribbon panel. Of the 32 people on it, 10 had close financial ties to the drug companies that make these drugs. How did this affect the proceedings? An example was the vote that cleared Bextra. The big pharma 10 voted 9-1 in favor. If it wouldn't have been for this lopsided side show, the vote would have shut the drug down.

The interesting comments came from panel members whose strings aren't being pulled by big pharma. One MD said that as many as 50 people per day are dying from taking these drugs.

But let's wind down this little FDA indiscretion. The truth is the only people who die from these painkillers are the people who use them. They may ruin a few lives and leave behind some devastated relatives -- at the rate of 50/day. But that's kid stuff to the ruined lives created by the epidemic of SSRI use. It's one thing to have Daddy die of a heart attack, and another thing altogether to have Daddy hang himself or blow his brains out -- or storm into his place of work and kill his boss and co-workers before killing himself. It's one thing to have Mother suffer a stroke and wake up with one side of her face not working. It's another thing altogether to have Mother drown her four kids in a bathtub or chop her children up -- two deeds done by SSRI-soaked U.S. mothers did. Or blow away grandma and grandpa with a shotgun as a 12-year-old on Zoloft did recently. SSRIs are criminal and so are the people who covered up their side effects. And so are the people in the FDA who put their personal gain ahead of the sacred trust they have abandoned.

Psychiatric Commitment Used To Shut Up Whistleblower

An Army sergeant in Iraq was tucked away in a psychiatric ward for complaining about crude treatment of detainees under interrogation, in spite of the fact that he was labeled as normal in his initial evaluation. Regardless of this, he was shipped off to a psychiatric ward in Germany for "evaluation" for an indeterminate time.

This was reported today in a Washington Post article.

This is of course the way dissent was suppressed in Russia during the dark years of the U.S.S.R. Dissenters were famously sent to "Siberia". The usual excuse was insanity. The government would declare them insane and pick them up. Their family might see them again years later or never, depending on the circumstances. The same tactic was used in Nazi Germany, and in most earlier cultures in one way or another. There was always an Inquisitioner or High Priest or Witch Doctor willing to fulfill the need of those in power to shut up the opposition.

The US is increasingly subject to this kind of thing. The move to initiate involuntary psychiatric testing for citizens is the subject of more than one failed bill in Congress over the last few years, and is on the table again this year in the form of the "Universal Mental Health Screening" initiative. This would create a file on every citizen. Given the penchant of psychiatrists to define everything from drinking coffee to picking your nose as a mental illness, it would be only a short step to define someone as "insane" and haul them off. This might seem ridiculous, but is not. It has already happened in isolated cases. During the reign of Janet Reno, there was the incident where the relatives of an old lady living alone got a judge to rule that she should be committed to a local hospital for a 90-day mental competency evaluation. This woman had no criminal record and according to friends and neighbors had never hurt anyone. She refused to go along with the game, though (which would have almost undoubtedly resulted in at least forced drugging if not worse) and the FBI wound up having to shoot it out with her as she defended her house with her husband's old shotgun.

The bottom line in the US today is you can be imprisoned without due process -- without committing any crime -- if the judge declares you mentally incompetent. Or even if the judge declares you should be taken away and evaluated for competency. This is not constitutional, and it's not safe for thee and me. It's time to tell our legislators that spiriting away people in the middle of the night without due process in the name of "mental health" is not to be used to coerce the populace.

FDA Raids Paxil

The FDA seized existing US supplies of Paxil and Avandamet, drugs manufactured by UK drug giant GlaxoSmithKline. Glaxo said they have temporarily halted distribution of the drug pending settlement of the matter, in which they are accused of "continued violations" of quality tests.

According to CNN, FDA and the Department of Justice will not allow drug manufacturers to ignore our high public health standards for drug manufacturing," said John Taylor, FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs.

We applaud the FDA for taking even a small amount of the killer drug Paxil off the market. However, we now we want to know the answer to the next question: is this really a tough, new and more perceptive FDA, or is it the same old whoring FDA, attacking a British competitor to their darling American manufacturer Eli Lilly, maker of the Paxil competitor Prozac?

Paxil vs. Natural Remedies

Jenny Thompson at HSI came up with this one. You might like to subscribe to her great newsletter.

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The medical mainstream HATES this kind of thing.

In a recent trial that tested St. John's wort against the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) paroxetine (better known by its U.S. brand name Paxil), St. John's wort produced better results and fewer adverse side effects.

Over a six-week study period, 122 patients with moderate to severe depression took a 900 mg St. John's wort extract daily, and 122 similar patients took 20 mg daily dose of Paxil. Results showed that about half the subjects in the St. John's wort group experienced relief from depression, while only about one-third of the Paxil subjects experienced relief.

As reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), about 170 adverse side effects occurred in the St. John's wort group, and nearly 270 side effects in the Paxil group. In both groups, stomach disorders were the most common complaint.

These results aren't a complete surprise. We've seen St. John's wort perform better with fewer side effects when pitted against pharmaceutical SSRIs in previous studies (although usually in subjects with light to moderate depression). Yet, what I found most interesting in this case were two comments about the study posted on the BMJ web site.

The first comment comes from Tim Watkins, the director of the Depression Alliance in the UK. He says he detects a hidden agenda in the study because the researchers (funded by a manufacturer of herbal remedies) chose Paxil instead of another SSRI. Paxil, he points out, has the worst reputation for side effects in this class of drugs. He says the researchers "must have known" that St. John's wort would produce fewer side effects than other SSRIs.

I can't agree that the researchers "must have known" how the side effects would stack up. These studies have a way of often producing surprise results. Just look at all those HRT studies that blew up in the researchers' faces.

And don't feel too sorry for poor beleaguered Paxil. GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil, reports that the drug brought in more than $2 billion in sales last year. In other words, there are a LOT of Paxil users out there. So in spite of the unfairness perceived by Mr. Watkins, the trial actually provides a service to any Paxil user who may be suffering from some of the more severe long-term side effects that have been associated with the drug.

The second BMJ comment comes from Jane Robertson, a reader in Australia. Jane is not a health professional, but she is a St. John's wort user. She writes that after spending 20 years in counseling to address chronic mild depression, she began using St. John's wort three years ago, and is now "leading a mentally healthy life without the agonized thinking I spent so long trying to sort out." She adds that her life has "been changed" by St. John's wort and is grateful that extracts of the herb are available over the counter.

'Nuff said. I will add, however, that St. John's wort should be taken with caution, especially by those who are also taking prescription drugs. St. John's wort has been shown to interfere with the effectiveness of some drugs. It is also critical that you not take yourself off of an SSRI without working with your doctor, especially if you are planning to substitute with St. John's wort or any other herbal or dietary supplement.

Another Zoloft Crime

Ann Tracy writes:

At the September FDA hearings I met Raul Laguerre. This very kind soft spoken man from upstate NY had come to learn what he could, to share his family's tragedy, and to meet other parents in the same position. He sobbed as he told me he had brought his family to America to give them a better life and instead he felt this action destroyed his son's life.

Just 15 at the time, young Raul, Jr's experience rings a far too familiar bell - as he began to rapidly have adverse reactions Zoloft, the doctor increased his dose and added more medications. In the end Raul was taking THREE powerful serotonin reuptake inhibitors: Zoloft, Risperdal and Strattera. The problems the doctor was attempting to address with these drugs were depression, nightmares and symptoms of attention deficit disorder - as if a serotonin reuptake inhibitor would actually help any of those conditions! When we know from medical research that impairment or reuptake of serotonin metabolism produces: horrifying nightmares, depression, mental retardation and Alzheimer's, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor would clearly only worsen any of those conditions.

Raul and his family were shocked beyond belief when he was arrested for the sodomy of a neighbor in 2003.

This is a boy who was a model son, who had never been in any trouble at all before this. And he had no memory of committing this crime. The only recall he had of the incident was a nightmare or what he thought was a nightmare of something like this happening. As you will note in the article below Raul's lawyers contend that he wasn't responsible for his actions that night because he was acting out a dream while living in a state of hypersexual arousal caused by an adverse reaction to such an unbelievable combination of medication.

The truth is this boy is lucky to be alive since using just two of these drugs together would have been enough to produce a reaction called Serotonin Syndrome which could have killed him within a 24 hour period. In his case his brain suffered the most toxic effects before his body did causing such out of character, bizarre behavior instead of the multiple organ failure that takes your life with this much too high a level of serotonin known as Serotonin Syndrome.

To the amazement and delight of the defense, the prosecutor's own expert witness in this case agreed with the defense that the drugs had caused young Raul to do this. It is almost unheard of that an expert called by the other side would agree so completely with a defense expert. But even more amazing than that is the fact that the jury then found him guilty!

Of course there is already talk of an appeal. In the meantime we need as many letters as possible going into Judge De Rosa before the sentencing of young Raul Laguerre, Jr. Judges have got to understand what it is they are dealing with so often in cases like this! The more judges that begin to get an understanding of this the sooner this insanity will be stopped. Clearly this judge needs to see that more than anything this boy needs counceling, not more medication!

Letters should be sent to:

Judge De Rosa
c/o Raul Laguerre, Sr.
35 Bauer LN
Newburgh, NY
12550

Zoloft and Prozac Murders - Whose Crimes Are They?

It's a new kind of crime. A human being goes insane and kills those he or she loves the most, and then in many cases kills him or herself. This is not an age-old human condition. It is new.

As little as 20-30 years ago it was very rare; even unheard-of. Now it happens so often the headlines are beginning to chase only the most bizarre examples.

A 12-year-old boy in South Carolina lives with his Grandfather and Grandmother. He sneaks into their bedroom and blows them away with a shotgun, then sets fire to the house.

A mother in Connecticut attacks her family with a knife, then sets her house on fire, killing everyone including herself -- except for an eight-year-old daughter who escapes and runs to the neighbors for help.

A mother in Texas drowns each of her four children in the bathtub -- one at a time.

The wife of popular comedian Phil Hartman kills her husband, then takes her own life.

The list goes on and on and on and on.

The common denominator? These people were all on "anti-depressants". The word "anti-depressant" has to be put in quotes, because it is a tragic misnomer. No one could be more depressed than the people who do such things as these. Prozac and Zoloft and Paxil and the other related "anti-depressants", known as SSRIs are the new element -- the new factor in the computation of murder and suicide.

Read Ann Tracy's new article about the Christopher Pittman case in South Carolina. The greatest culture in the history of the world is being brought to its knees by legal drug-lords who become wealthy, chemically teaching people to kill.

Psychiatrists In Drag As Soldiers

Psychiatrists in Iraq are pretending to be good American soldiers. This is a disguise. They are posing as experts in the mind, and are up their old tricks, offering destructive drugs as supposed solutions to mental problems. The drugs they're suggesting are discredited drugs originally created by and for psychiatrists, but long since degraded to the level of street drugs, including LSD and Ecstasy. Preying on the brave soldiers in Iraq with this quackery is unconscionable criminality.

Here's an article from the Guardian paper in England:

American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.

The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.

Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist leading the trial, said: "It's looking very promising. It's too early to draw any conclusions but in these treatment-resistant people so far the results are encouraging.

"People are able to connect more deeply on an emotional level with the fact they are safe now."

He is about to advertise for war veterans who fought in the last five years to join the study.

According to the US national centre for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30% of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.

Known as shell shock during the first world war and combat fatigue in the second, the condition is characterised by intrusive memories, panic attacks and the avoidance of situations which might force sufferers to relive their wartime experiences.

Dr Mithoefer said the MDMA helped people discuss traumatic situations without triggering anxiety.

"It appears to act as a catalyst to help people move through whatever's been blocking their success in therapy."

The existing drug-assisted therapy sessions last up to eight hours, during music is played. The patients swallow a capsule containing a placebo or 125mg of MDMA - about the same or a little more than a typical ecstasy tablet.

Psychologists assess the patients before and after the trial to judge whether the drug has helped.

The study has provoked controversy, because significant doubts remain about the long-term risks of ecstasy.

Animal studies suggest that it lowers levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and some politicians and anti-drug campaigners have argued that research into possible medical benefits of illegal drugs presents a falsely reassuring message.

The South Carolina study marks a resurgence of interest in the use of controlled psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs. Several studies in the US are planned or are under way to investigate whether MDMA, LSD and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, can treat conditions ranging from obsessive compulsive disorder to anxiety in terminal cancer patients.

They See It But They Don't

Here is the opening from an article about mothers in Texas who have recently murdered their babies; four similar cases:

DALLAS — When a mother admitted killing her baby daughter by severing the child's arms this week, she joined a high-profile list of Texas women with histories of mental illness who have killed their children in gruesome fashion.

They go on to describe each of these mothers. One of them, hopped up on two different anti-depressant drugs at once, drowned her four small children in a bathtub.

The news people see that the four women have a history of mental illness. But what is it they don't see?

Being "treated" for mental illness in America means these women were all at least given antidepressant drugs like Prozac, Paxil, Luvox or Zoloft that turn people into killers! These drugs, chemically related and grouped as SSRIs (Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors -- don't ask -- even the psychs don't really know what that means) are the killer on the loose in the U.S. today.

There have always been killings. There have always been the insane. But when I was a kid, and for thousands of years before that, murders had motives. People had reasons for what they did. They sought out and killed someone they hated or lusted after or envied or despised. There was usually some warning -- like a lifetime of conflict with the victim, or threats -- or even that the victim belonged to a rival gang.

Now there's a new class of criminal that has crawled out of the woodwork -- in volume. These are the people that randomly kill. They kill whoever it strikes their fancy to kill. Whoever is near. They show up in their post offices or schools with automatic weapons and simply cut loose. They drown or stab their children. They shoot their grandmother and grandfather in the mouth when they're asleep. They can be any age -- a remarkable number of them are children. And they're just as likely as not to commit suicide as well.

The new class was born when we started feeding people with "mental problems" SSRI drugs -- Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, Zoloft and others.

When will the news people see the story behind the story?

Zoloft Trial To Jurry

Jurors began deliberating Monday in the murder trial of a 15-year-old boy who claims the antidepressant Zoloft drove him to kill his grandparents three years ago.
The trial has been billed as the first case involving a youngster who says an antidepressant caused him to kill. The trial also comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over the use of antidepressants among children.

Defense attorneys urged the jury Monday to send a message to the nation by blaming Zoloft for the killings by 15-year-old Christopher Pittman. They said the negative effects of Zoloft are more pronounced in youngsters, and the drug affected Pittman so he did not know right from wrong.

"We do not convict children for murder when they have been ambushed by chemicals that destroy their ability to reason," attorney Paul Waldner said.

...

Pittman has not denied carrying out the slayings. He is charged as an adult in the November 2001 murders of Joe Pittman, 66, and his wife Joy, 62. If convicted, he could get 30 years to life in prison.

Zoloft is the most widely prescribed antidepressant in the United States with 32.7 million prescriptions written in 2003. Last October, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Zoloft and other antidepressants to carry "black box" warnings — the government's strongest warning short of a ban — about an increased risk of suicidal behavior in children.

Pittman threatened to kill himself about a month before the slayings. He also ran away from home.

FDA Is Soft On Killer Drugs - Likes Drug Companies More Than They Like Children

U.S. drug safety reports linking an attention deficit drug to 20 deaths aren't enough for the Food and Drug Administration to follow Canada in taking the product off the market, the agency's director of medical policy said today.

Health Canada ordered the withdrawal yesterday of Adderall XR, made by Shire Pharmaceuticals Group Plc, based on its review of adverse-event reports previously given to the U.S. agency by the Basingstoke, England-based company. The drug is prescribed for children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

``The cases are not convincing evidence the drug is clearly responsible for these deaths,'' said Robert Temple, director of the FDA's office of medical policy, in an interview.

The drug, Shire's biggest product, will remain available in the U.S., its largest market, Temple said. House and Senate committees have been probing the FDA's monitoring of drug safety since antidepressants were linked to increased risk of suicide in children and Merck & Co. withdrew its Vioxx painkiller after a company study tied it to heart risks.

FDA Discouraged Withdrawal?

``Information conveyed to my staff suggests that during a recent Adderall meeting, one or more FDA employees requested that the Canadian government refrain from suspending the use of Adderall XR because there was concern that FDA could not handle another `drug safety crisis,''' Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said today in a letter to acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford.

Grassley requested details of meetings with Canadian officials concerning Adderall and related records and documents. A phone message left after normal business hours for FDA spokesman Brad Stone for comment on Grassley's letter wasn't immediately returned.

(Doesn't it make you sick?) -This info is from a Bloomberg article.

More On Pittman Prozac Case From Ann Tracy and CNN

I hope you appreciate that statement as much as I do! This is an article on the Pittman case from CNN News. Note the following quote:
__________________________________
The boy's attorneys contend that Zoloft, a prescription drug manufactured by Pfizer, made him hallucinate and drove him to kill.

"He had these command hallucinations inside his head," Vickery said before the trial. "They didn't come externally. They came from inside his head: 'Kill, kill, kill.' "

The lawyers won a court fight to subpoena previously confidential drug test files from Pfizer and plan to use them in the trial.

If he is acquitted, some of the nation's largest drug makers could be exposed to future lawsuits linked to their antidepressants, possibly hurting sales.
________________________________
All I can say is that it could not happen to a more deserving group of folks!

Who gave them the right to harm so many with such deadly drugs?! Not even one of these tragedies is worth millions feeling "happy" for a while before they too crash into their own drug-induced nightmare. How can someone feeling good for a while compare to the pain and suffering of just this one little boy and his family?

As I have said over and over again, the research was there BEFORE these drugs were ever designed to demonstrate that they would become the nightmare they have become. For those of you who have read all of that documentation in my book, Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare, you know that as well. There was no scientific reason whatsoever to ever develop and market these drugs.

Unfortunately lawsuits are our only recourse in this situation. Any of the rest of us would be charged with premeditated murder for what these companies have done in releasing and promoting these drugs.

Dr. Tracy
_________________
Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.,
Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness
Website: www.drugawareness.org
Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare & CD or audio tape on safe withdrawal: "Help! I Can't Get Off My Antidepressant!"
Order Number: 800-280-0730
________________________


http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/31/zoloft.killings/
Defense blames Zoloft as trial opens


Boy faces murder charges in deaths of grandparents
Monday, January 31, 2005 Posted: 10:48 PM EST (0348 GMT)
Christopher Pittman, 15, is charged as an adult with the murder of his grandparents.

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- Fifteen-year-old defendant Christopher
Pittman sighed and wiped his eyes as the prosecution argued Monday that the
shotgun deaths of his grandparents were crimes of "a dark heart, an evil heart."
But the minor's defense lawyer blamed the killings on the antidepressant drug
Zoloft, which Pittman was taking at the time, and called his client "a shy,
decent boy who was acting under the influence of a powerful, mind-altering
drug."

Pittman, who police say has confessed to the killings, is being tried as an
adult and could face 30 years to life in prison if convicted. "This is not a trial about Zoloft. ... Chris Pittman is on trial," prosecutor Barney Giese said in opening arguments. He said the boy, who was 12 at the time of the slayings, "knew what he was
doing was wrong, legally and morally."

Pittman's lawyer, Andy Vickery, said he plans to call a series of psychiatric
experts. "The defense, in this case, will focus on the fact Zoloft causes violence,"
Vickery said.

The first two prosecution witnesses were firemen who recounted how the bodies
of the grandparents, Joe Frank and Joy Pittman, were found in the ashes of their house after the murders on the night of November 28, 2001. The opening statements came shortly after nine women and three men were selected to serve on the jury in the double-murder trial. Wearing a tie but no coat, Pittman bowed his head during the jury selection, occasionally sighing, his fists clenched and held together.

Drug test files subpoenaed

Police have said Pittman gave them a written statement admitting he shotgunned his grandparents to death as they slept in bed, then used lighter fluid and candles to burn down their house before fleeing in a family vehicle.

If he is acquitted, some of the nation's largest drug makers could be exposed to future lawsuits linked to their antidepressants, possibly hurting sales. At the time of the killings, Christopher Pittman was living with his grandparents outside Chester, South Carolina. They had taken him in after he had run away from his parents' home in Florida and had spent about a week in a psychiatric treatment center. His father, Joe Pittman, said that shortly before the killings a South Carolina doctor gave Christopher a sample pack of Zoloft and doubled his dosage a
week later. Two days before the killings, according to court files, Christopher Pittman
got into a school bus fight with a younger boy. His grandparents then discussed
returning him to Florida.

The boy's attorneys contend that Zoloft, a prescription drug manufactured by Pfizer, made him hallucinate and drove him to kill. "He had these command hallucinations inside his head," Vickery said before the trial. "They didn't come externally. They came from inside his head: 'Kill, kill, kill.' "

The lawyers won a court fight to subpoena previously confidential drug test files from Pfizer and plan to use them in the trial. In testimony at a federal Food and Drug Administration hearing a year ago, Joe Pittman read a letter he said was written by his son. "Everything just kept getting worse, then I snapped and took everything out on my grandparents who I loved so much," said the letter. "When I was laying in my bed that night, I couldn't sleep, my voice kept echoing through my mind telling me to kill them until I got up, got the gun, went upstairs and pulled the trigger."

Pfizer officials declined to be interviewed but denied any connection between the drug and the deaths. The company said in a written statement: "There is no scientific evidence to suggest that Zoloft contributes to violent behavior in either adults or children." Zoloft is not recommended for use by children with depression. Yet it and other antidepressants are widely prescribed for younger patients and adults.

In October, the FDA announced there was a link between antidepressants such as Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil and suicidal actions or thoughts among some younger patients. The FDA asked the manufacturers to adopt a warning to alert doctors and parents to watch carefully for signs of anxiety, agitation and aggression, particularly when children and teenagers start taking these drugs.

But the FDA has never suggested there is any connection between the antidepressants and violent behavior toward others. Zoloft is in a class of anti-depressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, that increase the level of a brain chemical, serotonin.
In 2002, almost 11 million prescriptions were dispensed to patients under 18 for SSRIs and other newer antidepressants to treat depression and a host of other conditions, according to the FDA.

Trial moved to Charleston

Pittman's trial was moved to Charleston after both the judge and the prosecutor withdrew from the case for personal reasons. Judge Daniel Pieper has said he expects the trial to last about two weeks. The boy has been held in the state's juvenile facility for more than three years. In addition to the murder charges, Pittman also faces family court charges of arson. Under South Carolina law, a juvenile found guilty in family court can be held until he is 21. Prosecutors pressed successfully to try Pittman in adult court to seek a longer sentence. Speaking at a 2003 hearing, John Justice, the case's original prosecutor, said the killings were among the worst of his career. "This kid waited until his grandparents went to bed, went to sleep, came in, shot them in the face -- in the mouth -- with a shotgun," Justice said. "It's as cold and brutal an act as I've witnessed in 25 years of prosecuting."

CNN's Jim Polk contributed to this report

A Poem - Or Is It Prose? Or is it Prozac?

A great poem by Dean Blehert:

Kids shoot up their schools,
mothers drown their kids;
pretty new tablets (green, purple)
replace the shattered tablets of the law,
abetting Premedicated murder.