The Aurora Shooter Case Confirms CCHR Predictions
Two mind-altering prescription psychiatric drugs, alcohol and a gun … and the media blamed the gun.
April 4, 2013 – The Los Angeles Times reveals that a search of James Holmes apartment found 48 containers of beer and other liquor, and prescription medication for the psychiatric drugs sertraline and clonazepam.
Holmes was charged with 166 counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges after a shooting rampage at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater that left 12 dead and 70 injured in July, 2012.
Details about the case have been tightly sealed from the earliest days of the investigation. Yet on April 4 District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. reversed previous rulings on public access and made public the arrest affidavit and 12 search warrants. The newly unsealed documents provide a list of things found in Holmes’ apartment: chemicals used for explosives, rounds of ammunition, pistol cases and paper targets, 48 containers of beer and other liquor, and prescription psychiatric drugs sertraline and clonazepam.
The fact missed by most is that psychiatric, mind-altering drugs have been found to be the common factor in an overwhelming number of acts of random senseless violence and suicide. The scientific research documenting the connection between violence, suicide and psychiatric drugs is overwhelming.
There have been 22 international drug regulatory warnings issued on psychiatric drugs causing violence, mania, hostility, aggression, psychosis, and other violent reactions. Sertraline, a generic form of Zoloft, is a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant, known to cause violence and suicidal actions. Clonazepam is a highly addictive hypnotic anti-anxiety drug, also known to cause violence and suicidal actions. These adverse side effects can occur both on taking the drugs and withdrawing from the drugs. Use of alcohol while taking clonazepam greatly intensifies the side effects of the drug. Combining sertraline with alcohol is also generally highly discouraged. Finding alcohol, sertraline and clonazepam in Holmes’ apartment, and the resulting violent behavior, strongly suggest he was taking them all together.
We have to ask whose purpose was served by keeping this information secret for so long? How can we use this information now to prevent further tragedies? Take every opportunity you can to make the connection between violence and psychiatric drugs known, and insist that authorities ask the proper questions in every case of senseless violence or suicide:
- Was the perpetrator subjected to psychiatric treatments prior to the violence?
- Was the perpetrator on psychiatric drugs at the time of the violence?
- Has the perpetrator been on psychiatric drugs in the past?
Even now, in the case of the Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, the authorities refuse to release this information. Despite a formal request from AbleChild, a Parent’s Rights organization, citing numerous state and federal laws supporting the release of Adam Lanza’s toxicology results and medical records, Connecticut Medical Examiner, H. Wayne Carver, M.D., has arbitrarily denied the request.
The M.E.’s decision to withhold the information is at odds with Connecticut law, the State’s Constitution, federal law and the United States Constitution. In response, AbleChild has filed an appeal with the State’s Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) for the release of the records and, if necessary, is prepared to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sheila Matthews, a founder of AbleChild, understands the immediate implications of the Lanza toxicology results saying, “The M.E. admitted toxicology testing could provide vital insight into Adam Lanza’s mental state, but in denying our request, it appears that he is the only one worthy of knowing that insight. We disagree and absolutely believe the public has a right to know the results… lives may depend on it.”
Sign the petition to release Adam Lanza’s toxicology report.