Jurgen and Brenda Viktor will be on the Queen Latifah Show on August 4, 2000.
They will be interviewed about their son Jared’s tragic experience on Paxil,
an account of which, written by his mother and posted on the
www.drugawareness.org site, follows below. You will need to check your local
TV guide to find times and stations in your area that will cover this program.
16 Year Old Son Convicted Of Murder After 5 Days On Paxil
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“I was frightened and bewildered. Nothing like that had ever happened before
with any of our children.”
I’m writing regarding the radio show you were interviewed on in June of this
year. I was very fortunate to catch this interview, normally I am not awake
at this hour of the night. I was both delighted and disappointed. Delighted
because you almost never hear the dangers of these “mind altering drugs.”
Disappointed because nobody seems to care. I call these drugs “mind altering”
because the name “anti-depressant” doesn’t fit the consequences they can
have. I feel you are a ray of hope to people like me who have experienced the
horrible effects these drugs have.
I have four children. My youngest child, Jarred was put on Paxil at 16. I
took my son to the doctor because I was concerned about his abuse of alcohol.
After a 15 minute evaluation, the doctor concluded Jarred was depressed. He
gave us sample boxes of Paxil, a month supply. He gave us no instruction
except to take one a day. There were no instructions with or on the sample
packets. After the first day on this drug, my son complained of severe
agitation, he said he felt “weird.” I called the doctor and asked if he had a
smaller dosage. I told him I thought they were too strong for Jarred. The
doctor told me there was not a smaller dosage than 20mg. He said I should cut
them in half. A couple days later my son became combative with me and his
father. The police had to be called. I was frightened and bewildered. Nothing
like that had ever happened before with any of our children. I didn’t connect
these drugs with this incident, I thought it was from alcohol use. Three days
later, a family friend was murdered. Jarred was charged and convicted of
first degree murder. He is in a California state prison serving life without
parole. We were in shock, in total disbelief this happened.
The victim was someone we spent time with. Jarred would play games with her.
He spent nights at her house with my other children. Jarred cared very much
for this special lady. This was extremely out of character for Jarred. We
couldn’t understand what happened. No one believed Jarred could do this. We
didn’t connect the drug to what had happened until Jarred’s attorney asked us
about the Paxil he was taking. He said he found cases where people have taken
these drugs and committing horrible crimes. It puzzled Jarred’s lawyer
because Jarred had never been in trouble or had never been violent.
This has been heavy on my heart for four years. We’re hearing of more and
more cases of horrible crimes committed by people who are on these drugs.
There is definitely a connection.
My question to you is what can I to help get the message across. I have been
silent too long. I want to do something to help. I want to do anything I can
to stop these tragedies from happening. I know they will continue to occur
with some doctors handing these drugs out like aspirin.
I realize you are very busy. I greatly appreciate your work. I would love
very much to hear from you.
Brenda Victor
jvikt@…
