Despite 22 international drug regulatory agency warnings on psychiatric drugs causing side effects of mania, hostility, violence, aggression, psychosis, suicidal and homicidal ideation, and dozens of high profile shootings/killings tied to psychiatric drug use and/or withdrawal, there has yet to be a federal investigation into psychiatric drugs, school shootings and other acts of violence.

While there is much speculation about what is behind the spate of school shootings and other senseless acts of violence, all too often one common denominator has surfaced in hundreds of cases—prescribed psychiatric drugs which are documented to cause violence by international drug regulatory agencies. 

·         There have been 22 drug regulatory agency warnings from five countries and the European Union, that include warnings of psychiatric drug-induced violence, hostility, aggression, homicidal ideation, mania/psychosis and harm to others.

·         There have been 10 studies in four countries on psychiatric drug-induced violence, homicidal ideation/actions, aggression, mania/psychosis, and hostility.

·         At least fourteen recent school shootings were committed by those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 109 wounded and 58 killed. In other school shootings, information about their drug use was never made public—neither confirming or refuting if they were under the influence of prescribed drugs.

·         Between 2004 and 2011, there have been 12,755 reports to the U.S. FDA’s MedWatch system of psychiatric drugs causing violent side effects including: 359 cases of homicide, 872 cases of homicidal ideation, 2,795 cases of mania and over 7,250 cases of aggression. (By the FDA’s own admission, only 1-10% of side effects are ever reported to the FDA, so the actual number of side effects occurring are most certainly higher.)

·         The New York State senate recognized the violence inducing effects of psychiatric drugs as far back as 2000, citing “a large body of scientific
research establishing a connection between violence and suicide and the
use of psychotropic drugs.”

We are calling on lawmakers to address the role of psychiatric drug use and withdrawal as it relates to school shootings and other acts of violence, given that the supporting data, cited above, on psychiatric drugs and violence already exists and, to date, has been ignored by the federal government.