Guns, Anti-Depressants and Cannabis

While many elected officials and media pundits fuss over the availability of guns manufactured by our massive gun corporations to mass murderers, there seems to be little concern about the availability of anti-psychotics medications manufactured by our galactic-sized pharmaceutical corporations. This lack of concern is especially surprising as the only thing besides guns that is directly associated with mass murders are anti-psychotic medications.

Anti-depressants are the most common prescription for adults age 18-44 with 60 percent of Americans taking them for more than two years. These include popular old-line medications like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro and Wellbutrin as well as newer medications such as Remeron, Effexor and Cymbalta.

To see the relationship between anti-psychotic drugs and mass murderers does not require an exhaustive study. From Columbine mass-killer Eric Harris’s use of Luvox to John Hinckley, who took four Valium pills two hours before his failed attempt to assassinate President Reagan, anti-psychotic meds are as much involved in murder as guns. The website ssristories.com is a collection of 4,800+ news stories involving anti-depressants that have appeared in the media or that were part of FDA investigations.

Just like most people who use guns do not commit mass murder, most people who use anti-depressants to treat mental illness do not commit mass murder, yet there most assuredly is a nexus between mass murders, guns and anti-depressants.

So where does cannabis play into this? For one thing it doesn’t play into mass murders or we would surely be hearing about it.

Further confirmation can be found by going to search engines like Google and entering “mass murders and anti-depressants” and “mass murders and marijuana” into the subject line. The former produces multiple pages of listings and the latter essentially zero.

What is so amazing about all these reports of mass murders is the infrequency of any media accounts reporting cannabis use. Since the vast majority of mass murders are committed by males under 35, it would seem that a large number of them would be using cannabis as well. Although some most assuredly did, it seems most did not.

Reuters estimates that almost 7 percent of young adults are current users of cannabis. Since there are hardly any reports about cannabis use by mass murderers, their use may be even less considering that if they were tested for drugs, cannabis would be No. 1 on the list as the plant’s chemical compounds remain in the body for weeks and most other substances disappear within a number of days.

Most significantly, mass murderers who only used cannabis and nothing else seem to be non-existent. With over 40 percent of the U.S. population having used cannabis, we’d all be dead if cannabis led people to commit murder.

Pharmaceutical companies shell out hundreds of millions of dollars every year in lawsuits paying off claims that their drugs caused users to commit suicide or mayhem. With over $18 billion in sales each year, drug manufacturers can easily afford shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars to quietly settle these lawsuits.

Many people who have used anti-depressants have found on their own that cannabis is an effective substitute that provides relief from the symptoms of their mental illness without any of the debilitating and negative side effects of the prescription medications prescribed by their doctors. The possibility that many of the atrocities committed by the anti-depressant pill-popping murderers might not have happened if they were using cannabis is a question that surely deserves an answer.

To receive a list of mass murders committed under the influence of anti-psychotics, send an email to lanny@marijuananews.org. Listen to Lanny’s weekly radio show, Marijuana Compassion and Common Sense, every Monday at 6pm on Inland Empire talk radio KCAA 1050AM and simulcast at www.kcaaradio.com.