We now know, for example, that accused Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz had been taking psychiatric prescriptions prior to allegedly shooting up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. We also now know that authorities had been made privy to Cruz's drug-associated mental problems prior to the incident, but proceeded to do nothing to address them.
An investigator from Florida's Department of Children and Families discovered back in 2016 that Cruz, who had just turned 18 at the time, had been talking on Snapchat about cutting himself, as well as trying to find help obtaining a firearm. This investigator reportedly told NBC News that Cruz clearly "stated that he plans to go out and buy a gun," but that it was "unknown what he is buying the gun for."
Even Cruz's own mother admitted to authorities during the investigation that her son had behavioral problems suggestive of the fact that he had no business purchasing a firearm. She reportedly told investigators that Nikolas owned an air gun that "she would take away from him when he did not follow rules about shooting only at backyard targets," to quote The New York Times (NYT).
Despite all this, and the fact that Cruz was known to be on mind-altering behavioral drugs, the department declared Cruz to be "low risk," and proceeded to close his case within two months of it being opened. This blatant failure to properly assess the situation is what many experts now believe resulted in the tragedy.
"Had Cruz been committed, under existing gun laws he would have become unable to legally buy a gun to carry out his murderous fantasies," wrote Dr. Peter Breggin in an article that was republished by GreenMedInfo.com.
"Alternatively, if he had been carefully and safely removed from his psychiatric drugs while receiving good psychosocial therapy, his escalating violent impulses might have abated. Instead, he was left on his own to face the death of his mother and his expulsion from school, while his murderous impulses were fueled by drugs."
Guns aren't the problem – mind-altering drugs are the problem
The drugs Cruz was taking, for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), have been connected to mass shootings in the past. One example of this was 15-year-old Hammad Memon, who reportedly shot and killed a fellow middle school student while taking the drug Zoloft for both ADHD and depression. More well known is the Columbine shooting in Colorado, one of the shooters of which was also on Zoloft, followed by another drug known as Luvox.
Prozac is another common ADHD drug that's repeatedly been associated with acts of violence. A 16-year-old boy named Jeff Weise who was taking the drug shot his grandfather, his grandfather's girlfriend, and more than a dozen of his fellow students in Red Lake, Minnesota. And this is just one of many similar incidents, all involving Prozac, Zoloft, Ritalin, and/or a variety of other brain-bending pharmaceuticals commonly prescribed for depression and ADHD.
"Not only do psychiatric drugs add to the risk of violence, but psychiatric treatment lulls the various authorities and the family into believing that the patient is now 'under control' and 'less of a risk,'" warns Dr. Breggin.
"Even the patient may think the drugs are helping, and continue to take them right up to the moment of violence." Read ChemicalViolence.com for more details of the dangers of psychiatric drugs.
Sources for this article include:
Please contact us for more information.
