7/22/1999 – A Hotline Volunteer’s Perspective – Report

This appeared in today’s Dallas Morning News Letters to the Editor.
Interesting comment from the perspective of someone who volunteers for
an emergency hotline. Thanks to Rosie Meysenburg for passing this
along to us. Mark
——————————————————————
http://www.dallasnews.com/editorial/letters/0722edlett1.htm

Psychiatric drugs

There has been much talk about what is causing the rash of shootings by
children. No one explanation has nailed the source of the problem. One
explanation often heard is untreated mental problems.

In truth, three of the recent shooters had been treated and given
psychiatric drugs – Springfield’s Kip Kinkel (Springfield, Ore.) with
Prozac, Eric Harris (Littleton, Colo.) with Luvox and Thomas Solomon
(Conyers, Ga.) with Ritalin.

I was a volunteer for a hot line and received many complaints from
people
whose behavior became irrational after taking mood-altering drugs like
Prozac. The wife of comedian Phil Hartman, who killed her husband and
herself, was on the psychiatric drug Zoloft.

Why has there been no mention of the risks of taking these drugs? I
think
we have put too much trust in the psychiatric community in allowing
them to
put so many of our children on drugs. The pharmaceutical industry which
is
making big money on the proliferation of legal drug use and the rising
costs of drugs is not going to complain. We must complain.

PAT SPRUILL, Plano

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