Columbine High School--What Have We Learned?

I am continually grateful to the Novus Medical Detox Center Newsletter who work tirelessly to help people with drug dependency. Their newsletters are always of value and this one is no exception.

04/27/2009

On April 21, 1999, two high school students went to Columbine High School and calmly killed twelve students and a teacher and wounded 23 others. Then the two shooters committed suicide. While the media has speculated that there were numerous reasons that led to these two young men killing their classmates and friends. It is known that Eric Harris, one of the two shooters, was on the antidepressant Luvox. The medical records of Dylan Klebold, the other shooter, are sealed and we don't know if he was taking psychoactive drugs.

MARK TAYLOR TESTIMONY

Mark Taylor, one of the 23 wounded victims who survived, gave this testimony during the FDA hearings on the dangers of antidepressants on September 13, 2004.

I am Mark Allen Taylor and I am a victim of the SSRI antidepressant era. I took six to thirteen bullets in the heart area in the Columbine High School shooting when Eric Harris on Luvox opened fire that now infamous day.

They almost had to amputate my leg and my arm. My heart missed by only one millimeter. I had three surgeries. Five years later I am still recuperating.

I went through all this to realize that SSRI antidepressants are dangerous for those who take them and for all those who associate with those who take them.

I hope that my testimony today shows you that you need to take action immediately before more innocent people like me, and you, do not get hurt or die horrible deaths as a result.

As Americans we should have the right to feel safe and if you were doing your job we would be safe. Why are we worrying about terrorists in other countries when the pharmaceutical companies have proven to be our biggest terrorists by releasing these drugs on an unsuspecting public?

How are we suppose to feel safe at school, at home, on the street, at church or anywhere else if we cannot trust the FDA to do what we are paying you to do? Where were you when I and all of my classmates got shot at Columbine?

You say that antidepressants are effective. So why did they not help Eric Harris before he shot me?

According to Eric they "helped" him to feel homicidal and suicidal after only six weeks on Zoloft. And then he said that dropping off Luvox cold turkey would help him "fuel the rage" he needed to shoot everyone. But he continued on Luvox and shot us all anyway.

So, why did these so called antidepressants not make him better? I will tell you why. It is because they do not work.

We should consider antidepressants to be accomplices to murder.

Unfortunately, the FDA did not listen to Mark or the many other witnesses who told about violence and suicide committed by people taking antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs and we have had more tragedies caused by people on these dangerous drugs.

KAUFFMAN ARTICLE

The latest article questioning the use of these psychoactive drugs is published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 14 Number 1 Spring 2009. “Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) Drugs: More Risks Than Benefits?” was written by Joel Kauffman, Ph.D. This article looked at the evidence of antidepressants causing incidents of violence and suicides. Dr. Kauffman said,

“Anecdotal reports have suggested that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may cause suicidal or violent behavior in some patients. Because of the publicity surrounding certain events, and the numerous lawsuits that have been filed, a review of benefits and risks is needed.

At most 30% of patients receive a benefit from SSRIs beyond the large placebo effect in certain mental conditions, especially depression, according to a recent meta-analysis of published trials. An equally recent meta-analysis of all SSRI trials submitted to the FDA showed a small benefit for the severely depressed patients only. Many early unpublished trials did not show any benefit. Adverse effects are common, occurring in up to 75% of subjects. Severe adverse effects may be underreported.”

Despite the growing list of experts questioning the use of these dangerous drugs, they continue to be heavily promoted by the drug companies and prescribed by many doctors and the FDA does nothing.

WHAT ARE THE FACTS ABOUT ANTIDEPRESSANTS?

We know:

• The drug companies admit in the drug labels that they don't know how these dangerous drugs work.

• There are no medical tests to establish the need for these psychoactive drugs.

• The medical literature is filled with information about real medical conditions that create the symptoms of depression but few doctors actually test for these causes and even fewer actually try to cure the cause. They simply prescribe a drug. (We call this the radio method—you hear a noise in car engine while driving and instead of seeking to repair the cause you turn up the volume of the radio so you don't hear it anymore.)

• Study after study concludes that these dangerous drugs seldom work better than placebos (sugar pills).

• Even most of the tests paid for and conducted by the drug companies do not show that antidepressants are more effective than placebos.

• The International Coalition for Drug Awareness in cooperation with the Prozac Survivors Support Group website lists 3,000 violent incidents associated with antidepressant use (http://www.ssristories.com/index.php).

• The drug companies still refuse to release any information they have that is negative even though they know that the release of this information would save lives.

• The FDA still refuses to protect us even though Congress has given them the legal power to do so.

• The medical societies still refuse to punish doctors who accept money from drug companies to find results that are not supported by facts but serve only the drug companies.

• The drug companies believe that they are in business to sell drugs—not to sell safe and effective drugs but to sell drugs.

• Daily we find that these drug companies have known for years of problems with their drugs but unless journalists, whistleblowers or lawyers are able to “discover” these risks, the drug companies don't tell anyone—regardless of the deaths or problems caused.

• The drug company executives know that even if their failure to disclose these risks leads to deaths of people who trusted them, they will simply pay a fine.

CONCLUSION

Until these corrupt drug company executives are treated like any of us who commit acts that injure or kill people—to be put in jail, they will continue to kill and harm people in their greedy pursuit of profit. Until these companies realize that their failure to disclose the truth about their drugs will result in the “death sentence” for their drug—a complete and permanent ban, they will continue to hide vital data from doctors and patients and even the FDA and more people will suffer and die.

For many years Congress did not give the FDA the power to make drug companies protect the consumer. But that has changed. Now the FDA has no excuse for not protecting us. The FDA leadership should receive an email every time a person dies or suffers from the acts of these corrupt drug companies and their lackey doctors.

At Novus we are daily dealing with the ravages caused by our society's erroneous reliance on the honesty of the drug companies, the belief that the FDA is protecting us and the fiction that most doctors are really trying to cure our ailments. It is time that we realize that our health and quality of life depends on our becoming educated and demanding real treatments that result in actual solutions. Until we refuse to see doctors who practice “radio method' medicine and refuse to accept prescriptions designed to disguise our symptoms but cure nothing, we share in the responsibility for our declining state of health.

If you need to safely and more comfortably withdraw from Oxycontin, Vicodin, methadone, heroin, alcohol, Xanax and other psychoactive drugs please give us a call. We can help you take the first step to getting free of these terrible drugs.

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