DRUGS AND VIOLENCE

Kip Kinkel mowed down 22 of his classmates plus his parents in
Oregon. He was taking Prozac and had a history of taking Ritalin.
These last facts are mentioned by journalists as an odd bit of
trivia. But they may very well be the key to solving the puzzle, much
more than access to guns or exposure to violence.

The hero who wrestled Kinkel down and stopped the mayhem was also into
guns and exposed to violence, but his natural instinct was to risk his
life to save others.

Prozac, as well as certain other psychiatric drugs, are documented as
causing violent behavior and suicidal thoughts in a small percentage
of their users, even in people who have had no history of violence.
Ritalin, which is put in the same category as opium, heroin, morphine
and cocaine by the Drug Enforcement Administration, can cause suicidal
depression and psychotic episodes during withdrawal.

These drugs have the potential to remove whatever civilizing factor it
is that keeps humans from stepping over the line into criminal behavior.

Checked-by: (trikydik)