Despite the 22 international drug regulatory warnings on psychiatric drugs noted to cause side effects of "mania, hostility, violence, and even homicidal thoughts", there has yet to be a movement in America connecting gun violence to the use of psychiatric drugs. These symptoms are often overlooked when it comes to investigating the perpetrators of gun violence and mass shootings. At least 35 school shootings or acts of violence have been committed by those taking or withdrawing from prescription psychiatric drugs. Overwhelming evidence correlates the use of psychiatric guns to cases of gun violence, especially by minors.
The extensive amount of cases correlating school shootings to the use of strong psychiatric drugs is not a new phenomenon. For the last 20 years, nearly every mass shooting has had this one element in common. In 2007 a Finnish teenage taking antidepressants was responsible for a school shooting in which 12 students were killed. In 2008 a teenager prescribed Lexapro and Geodon shot 3 police officers and then ended his own life. In 2014, a man responsible for a mass shooting was taking the anti-anxiety drug, Hydroxyzine. Chances are, many of the most publicized and recent acts of mass violence also have one common factor - the use of prescription psychiatric drugs.
Although it might not lead us directly to all causes of gun violence, we must learn to ask the right questions regarding the correlation between the prescribed psychiatric drugs and the ever increasing epidemic of gun violence.
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