Between 1988 and 1992, there were reports of 90 children and adolescents who had suffered suicidal or violent self-destructive behavior while on Prozac. The Food and Drug Administration's own adverse drug reaction reports reveal that a 12-year-old suffered hostility and confusion, was violent and became "glassy-eyed" on the drug; an 18-year-old was hospitalized after being on the drug for 270 days and had reportedly sexually assaulted and stabbed a store clerk; one 16-year-old who had been on Prozac for 50 days, reported hostility, psychotic depression and hallucinations when there had been no prior psychiatric history. These are side effects that psychiatrists go to great lengths to ignore or deny. Even the FDA defended this stance in 1991. Suppressed was critical data that show that almost all the kids who shot, maimed, and killed other kids, their teachers or themselves had recently been or were under psychiatric care. Almost all the kids that killed had recently been on or had been taking psychotropic drugs, including Ritalin, Luvox (a new antidepressant drug), and Proxac. {Health Alert Vol 17 Issue 11 Nov 2000}

Psychiatrists blame the violent behavior on the person's "mental illness" or his failure to continue his medication; but the truth is that apart from being a side effect, the violent behavior is most likely the result of withdrawal from the drug itself In 1995, Denmark's Cooperative Institute for Medical Drug Dependence report the following withdrawal symptoms from psychotropic drug dependence: "Emotional changes: fear, terror, panic, fear of insanity, failing self-confidence, restlessness, irritability, aggression, an urge to destroy and, in the worst cases, an urge to kill.."

Psychotic episodes and violent behavior are also associated with chronic Ritalin abuse. Even the manufacturer warns "frank psychotic episodes can occur" with abuse. The history of violence by teens who have been subjected to psychiatric drugs cannot be ignored. The following represents a minute sample of such crimes:
November 20, 1986: Rod Matthews, 14, beat a classmate to death with a bat in the woods near his house in Canton, Massachusetts. Though Rod was extremely bright, he was put on Ritalin when he was in third grade.

September 26, 1988:1 9-year~old James Wilson went on a shooting rampage at the Greenwood elementary school in South Carolina. Two children were killed and seven other children and two teachers were wounded. Wilson had been treated by Greenwood psychiatrist, Willie Moseley. Since the age of 14, he had been given psychiatric drugs, including Xanax, Valium, Vistaril, Mellaril, Thorazine, Tofranil and Halcion. He was withdrawing from Xanax at the time of the shooting spree.

October 17, 1995: Brian E. Pruitt, 16, fatally stabbed his grandparents. The prosecutor in his murder trial said: "His intent was to kill, not just to cause great bodily harm." Pruitt had a history of psychiatric treatment and had been prescribed "medication."

February 19, 1996: Timmy Becton, 10, grabbed his three-year-old niece as a shield and aimed a shotgun at a sheriff's deputy who accompanied a truant officer to his Florida home. Becton had been taken to a psychiatrist in January to cure his dislike of school and was put on a psychiatric drug, Prozac. His parents said that when the dosage of the drug was increased, Timmy had violent mood swings and that he would "get really angry..."

July 1996: In Japan, a 16-year-old high school student was stabbed by two boys, ages 15 and 16, who said they had been taking a sedative (sleeping pill) because it made them "invincible."

September 27, 1997: A 16-year-old, Jackson Township, New Jersey boy, Sam Manzie raped and strangled to death an 11-year-old boy who was selling door-to-door for the local Parent-Teacher Association. Manzie then took a "trophy photo" of the dead boy, the cord from the clock radio still around his neck. Manzie was under psychiatric care at the time and being "medicated." He reportedly told his mother, "I wasn't killing that little boy. I was killing (my doctor) because he didn't listen to me."

May 21, 1998: Before going on a wild shooting spree at his Springfield, Oregon high school that left two dead and 22 injured, 14-year-old Kip Kinkel had been attending anger control classes and was reportedly taking Prozac and Ritalin. Kinkel also shot his parents, killing them.

*** To learn more this critical topic and what you can do contact CCHR (Citizens Council on Human Rights at 6362 Hollywood Blvd., Suite B, Los Angeles, CA 90028 USA phone (323) 467-4242 or 800-869-2247.

In my opinion, many of the "problems" that drugs are supposed to "help" can be directly linked to poor nutrition.