Please
read these three pieces on exactly why
we are having a level of violence in
our schools and colleges that is unprecedented;
and guess what? It’s not due to
guns, it’s not due to music, it’s
not even due to video games - it’s
the Prozac and the SSRI family of drugs
coupled with the amphetamine Ritalin.
Look at the statistics, read the names
of which student was taking what drug
during their attack of mania and decide
to clean these snakes out of our kids
lives!
From
the great Dr. Larry Wilson:
WHY KIDS KILL? PROZAC
AND ALTERNATIVES
by Lawrence Wilson, MD
Causes
for childhood depression, anxiety and
attention deficit range from nutritional
imbalances and chemical exposure to
home and school problems. Instead of
addressing causes, many doctors and
psychologists treat the symptoms with
powerful medications. Today, almost
nine million children, or almost one
out of every five children, take psychoactive
drugs for their behavior disorders,
many of which are questionable diagnoses.
SIDE EFFECTS OF PROZAC
Prozac,
Luvox, Paxil, and Zoloft belong to
a class of drugs called selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors or SSRI's. These
drugs can induce akathisia - mental
and physical agitation that sparks
self-destructive, violent behavior.
They can also induce dissociative reactions.
The one taking the drug becomes insensitive
to the consequences of his behavior.
The
combination of these effects can lead
to anti-social behavior of the worst
kind. In one study, 6% of the children
on Prozac became psychotic (1).
Here
are the sad results. Eric Harris was
on Luvox before taking part in the shooting
at Columbine High School in April 1999.
Fifteen-year-old Shawn Cooper fired on
students and high school staff in Notus,
Idaho in April 1999. He was taking an
SSRI. Thirteen-year-old Chris Fetters
of Iowa killed her favorite aunt. She
was on Prozac. Kip Kinkel, a 15-year-old,
first shot his parents, then killed two
and wounded 22 fellow students at Thurston
High School in Oregon. He was taking
Prozac.
Joseph
Wesbecker was on Prozac when he killed
seven people at a printing plant in Kentucky,
before taking his own life. In September
1999, Buford O'Neal Furrow, Jr. fired
70 rounds at the North Valley Jewish
Community Center in Los Angeles wounding
5 people. A month earlier Mark Barton
murdered his wife and two children and
then methodically gunned down 21 people
in two brokerage firms in Atlanta.
Jeff
Weise was another school killer in Red
lake, Minnesota. His dose of Prozac had
just been increased to 60 mg daily. The
story is the same - those involved were
taking SSRI drugs. Since 1998, eight
of the thirteen ‘school shooters’ were
on psychiatric drugs. The records on
the remaining five are sealed. Did the
drugs cause the violence?
Ann
Blake Tracy, PhD has studied Prozac for
ten years. She researched 32 murder cases
involving women and their children. In
24 of the cases, the women were taking
Prozac or another SSRI.
Why
isn't this on the news? Perhaps because
drug company advertising supports most
TV and radio stations, newspapers and
medical journals. Drug companies spend
$11 billion a year on advertising. An
article in California Lawyer, Dec. 1998,
reported that Eli Lilly, manufacturer
of Prozac, settled nearly a dozen cases
involving Prozac out of court in one
year. They did this to avoid unwanted
publicity that would unleash an avalanche
of Prozac horror stories.
AN EPIDEMIC
In
many areas, one of every five children
is labeled with 'attention deficit' or
ADHD. The number of children so diagnosed
increased by 90% between 1989 and 1996!
Three-fourths of the doctor visits resulted
in drug treatment. Clinical Psychiatric
News, July 1998 reported that 223 children
under age 3 who enrolled in Michigan's
Medicaid program before December 1996
were labeled ADHD. The author adds: "Amazingly,
57% of these children were treated with
one or more psychotropic drugs including
Ritalin, Prozac, Dexedrine, Aventyl and
Syban. Thirty-three percent were medicated
with two or more of these drugs."
Combining
anti-depressants (Prozac or Luvox) and
psychostimulants (Ritalin) increases
the risk of cardiovascular collapse,
seizures, euphoria and psychosis (3).
Researchers at the Brookhaven National
Laboratory reported that "when Ritalin
was given to cocaine users, they couldn't
distinguish the Ritalin high from the
cocaine high".
Why
the epidemic? Lack of parental supervision,
loss of values, poor role models, too
much TV, and outmoded educational systems
may all contribute. Schools often receive
money for every child they diagnose with
ADHD. It seems easier to prescribe a
drug than spend the time to investigate
the problem. There are other reasons,
however, that are well-documented but
hardly ever discussed.
ATROCIOUS DIETS
Pellagra
is a vitamin B3 deficiency disease. In
1938, the American Journal of Medical
Science, Vol. 196 published an article
titled, "The Mental Symptoms of
Subclinical Pellagra (in children)" by
T.D. Spies et al. Symptoms include hyperactivity,
perceptual difficulties, inappropriate
social behavior, and problems in school.
Sound familiar?
How
can a child today develop this syndrome?
Easily! Live on a standard diet of products
made from white flour, white rice, and
refined sugar. In a California study
involving 400 prisoners, 200 were given
a multi-vitamin-mineral supplement, while
the others were given a placebo. Neither
the prisoners nor the prison staff knew
who was getting the placebo. The number
of discipline violations in the treated
group fell 38% in the 15 weeks of the
study. There was no change in violations
in the placebo group.
Psychiatrist
Abram Hoffer, MD has added much to our
understanding of human nutrition. Two
of his contributions concern food allergies
and dosages of vitamins. He writes that "food
allergy can reproduce almost every known
psychiatric syndrome, from autism and
schizophrenia to mood and behavioral
disorders". His work with concentration
camp victims proved that some people
need much higher doses of vitamins than
others to maintain health.
CRIME AND NUTRITION
Many
studies support the concept that better
nutrition reduces crime and delinquency
in adults as well as in children. A
recent study appeared in the British
Journal of Psychiatry in 2002. This was
a well-controlled study in which half
of a group of 230 young offenders were
given a food supplement containing vitamins,
minerals and essential fatty acids. The
other half were given a placebo or dummy
pill (an excellent choice of words, in
this case).
Those
who took the real food supplement over
an eighteen-month period experienced
a reduction in all repeat offenses of
25%. Violent crime was reduced
by nearly 40%. Those who took the
placebo had no reduction in their repeat
offenses over the same period of months.
OLD BRAIN AND NEW BRAIN
Our
brain has several parts. The so-called ‘old
brain’ is the diencephalon, often
referred to as the brain stem. It is
responsible for our animal responses,
including the desire to harm or kill
another. It is a natural defensive response.
The ‘new brain’ is the cortex,
which sits on top of the old brain. One
of its functions is to modify the animal
responses, substituting the higher emotions
such as forgiveness, patience and compassion.
Copper
stimulates the old brain, whereas zinc
is needed in greater quantity for the
new brain. In fact, zinc is considered
by some researchers as a calming neurotransmitter
in its own right. Hair analyses reveal
today that over 50% of the population
is zinc deficient and copper toxic. Symptoms
of copper toxicity from a standard textbook
include psychosis, schizophrenia, and
emotional instability.
Why
are the copper levels high? Among the
important reasons are zinc-deficient
(refined food) diets, adrenal gland weakness,
use of birth control pills and copper
intra-uterine devices in mothers, vegetarian
diets, and stress.
THE PEPSI GENERATION
Many
children today are overstimulated with
caffeine and sugar. Refined caffeine
- a more potent stimulant than that found
in foods such as tea or coffee, is readily
available to youngsters of all ages.
It gives a temporary lift, but eventually
exhausts the adrenal glands, leading
to fatigue and irritability. It is ironic
that the FDA is very tough on vitamin
manufacturers, but ignores children’s
access to this well-known stimulant drug.
Refined
sugar, labeled fructose, corn sweeteners,
honey, dextrose, liquid sugar or other
names, depletes the body of B-complex
vitamins needed for its digestion. It
also feeds fungal and other subclinical
infections. Substituting Nutrasweet is
even worse for many people.
Calcium,
magnesium and zinc are called the "sedative
minerals". They are essential for
mental well-being. Soda pop contains
phosphoric acid that binds and eliminates
calcium, magnesium and zinc from the
body.
TOXIC METALS
Lead,
cadmium, and mercury can damage children's
brains and cause mood swings and violent
thoughts. This is not a debatable issue.
Tissue mineral tests on several serial
killers found they had high tissue levels
of these metals. A study of Naval recruits
found the higher the cadmium level, the
more disciplinary problems.
The "mad
hatters" of Alice in Wonderland
were real people. They became poisoned
with mercury working in the hat industry
in the mid 1800's. Today, American children
are poisoned with mercury on a much larger
scale from their dental fillings. Many
European nations have banned amalgam
fillings. The American Dental Association
knows about the problem. If they told
you the truth, there might be law suits,
so the poisoning continues.
A
troubled teen consulted the author some
years ago. He had been expelled from
several high schools, and lived at the
Arizona Boys Ranch. His driver said he
had "a bad attitude". In my
office, he said "Doc, my brain doesn't
work". A mineral analysis indicated
high levels of cadmium and aluminum.
Both are neurotoxic. I changed his diet,
and recommended several supplements.
Six months later he returned for a follow-up.
His cadmium and aluminum levels had improved.
The driver said, "His attitude has
turned around". In my office the
boy said, "Doc, my brain works".
When
the diet is low in vital minerals, the
body absorbs much more of the toxic metals
from food and the environment.
TOXIC CHEMICALS
Pesticide
exposure can induce homicidal behavior.
Many pesticides affect cholinesterase
activity. This enzyme affects the level
of acetylcholine, a calming neurotransmitter.
This can induce states of agitation and
irritability. Studies show that many
children by age five have reached a dangerous
level of pesticide exposure.
Schools
are often built today without windows
for better insulation. Many have carpeting,
which formerly was never used in schools.
This creates a closed environment with
carpet molds, dust, toxic cleaning products
and formaldehyde in furniture and building
materials. The result is called "sick
building syndrome". Excellent books
such as Is This Your Child's World? by
Doris Rapp, MD document the harmful effects
these chemicals can have on children's
behavior.
SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
What
can be done about all this? A lot, at
least with younger children whose diets
can be controlled. Use the resources
at the end of this article to become
informed and help your children feel
their best. Explain to your children
that you are responsible for their health
and safety, and your rules are for their
sake.
Have
fun explaining nutrition to kids. Tell
them that fluffy, bleached, preserved
white bread is good for two things: cleaning
up a mess on the floor, and for blowing
your nose if you don't have Kleenex.
It has no place in a healthful diet.
Bleached white flour is great for paper
mache, but not for eating.
Don't
keep junk food in the house, substitute
healthier products and set a good example
for children. Yell and scream until they
take the soda machines and McDonald's-style
meals out of the schools. If they refuse,
consider taking your child out of that
school. While you are at school, note
if there is proper ventilation, and how
many toxic carpets and other items your
child will be exposed to.
Natural
light, provided by windows or full-spectrum
bulbs, is also much healthier for children
than windowless school buildings and
standard fluorescent lights.
Spend
more time with your children. Although
TV violence is probably not the main
cause of school violence, why support
violence on TV and movies? Ratings are
everything. If enough people tune out,
the programming will change.
GUN CONTROL AS AN ANSWER
It
is tempting to pass gun control laws
to “control” the violence. Clearly
children should not be able to buy guns,
and in most states they cannot. Also,
it is obvious that parents are responsible
to keep their children away from all
potentially lethal items that may be
in a home. However, gun control
is a much larger issue. Only by
reviewing the statistics does one begin
to realize that guns in the hands of
the citizens are an excellent deterrant
to crime, and in fact they prevent thousands
of rapes, robberies and murders every
year.
If
the nutritionally atrocious diets continue
and if biochemical imbalances that are
easily seen on a hair mineral analysis
are not addressed, the violence will
only escalate. If guns are not
available, it will be with bombs, knives,
chemicals or other weapons that could
be far worse than a gun.
Statistics
clearly reveal that gun control is not
effective in reducing crime. Kennesaw,
Georgia passed a law requiring heads
of households to have at least one gun
in the house. The crime rate dropped
and has remained low. There are excellent
books detailing the benefits of gun ownership.
Click here to read about gun statistics
in America.
LOVE THE CHILDREN
If
your child is diagnosed with ADHD or
depression, use drugs as a last resort.
Seek for causes, including nutritional
imbalances, candida albicans infections,
food allergies and chemical sensitivity
among others. Other natural therapies
can also be most helpful. For example,
St. John's wort or 5-HTP for mild depression
do not have the side effects of Prozac
and often work as well.
Children
need to be loved and cared for carefully.
Too many parents are burned out, too
busy, or some just don’t care enough
about their children. When children are
not loved and cared for properly, most
cannot articulate their needs. Instead,
they "act out" - sometimes
violently. Under the influence of drugs
and other imbalances, it can be deadly.
Perhaps we can be grateful for these
incidents. They may point us in directions
that are needed to better love the children.
References
1. Breggin, P.R., Talking Back to Prozac,
St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York, NY,
1994.
2. Breggin, P.R., Your Drug May Be Your
Problem, Perseus Books, Reading, MA 1999.
3. Breggin, P.R., also Talking Back to
Ritalin and Toxic Psychiatry.
4. Dishinger, R.C., Bad Behavior and
Illness are Caused by Biochemical Imbalances,
available free at www.biochemimbal-bahavior.com
or call 502-684-9233.
5. Doctor Visits by Youngsters with ADHD,
Arch. of Ped. and Adolescent Med., Dec.
1999;153,1257-1263,1220-1221.
6. Drug Company Advertising to Doctors,
J. of the AMA,2000;373-380 and 391-393.
7. Eck, P. and Wilson, L., Toxic Metals
in Human Health and Disease, Eck Institute
of Applied Nutrition, Phoenix, AZ, 1989.
8. Greeley, R.E., Thomas Jefferson's
Freethought Legacy, Prometheus Books,
Amherst, NY, 1995.
9. Hoffer, A, Dr. Hoffer's ABC of Natural
Nutrition for Children, Quarry Press,
Inc., Ontario, Canada 1999.
10. Johnson, J.A. et al., Drug-related
Morbidity and Mortality, A Cost-of-Illness
Model, Arch. Intern. Med., Oct. 9, 1995;155(18)1949-1956.
11.Olarsch, I.G., and Stockton, S., Why
are Kids Killing...The Nutrition-Mind
Connection, Townsend Letter for Doctors,
April 2000;201,108-111.
12.O'Meara, K.P., Doping Kids, Insight
Magazine, June 28, 1999, available at
www.freerepublic.com
Prozac Survivor's Support Group, at www.pssg.org
13. Rapp, D., Is This Your Child?, Quill
William Morrow, New York, 1991.
14. Rappaport, John, Why Did They Do
It? An Inquiry Into The School Shootings
in America, (available at www.truthseeker.com)
15. Schauss, A., Diet, Crime and Delinquency,
Parker House Press, Berkeley, CA, 1980.
16. Thiel, R.J, Nutrition-based Interventions
for ADD and ADHD, Amer. Naturo. Med.
Assoc. Monitor, 1999, or at www.healthresearch.com.
17. Tracy, A.B., Prozac: Panacea or Pandora?,
Cassia Publications, West Jordan, UT,
1994.
18. Tracy, Ann Black, International Coalition
for Drug Awareness, www.drugawareness.org
19. Wiley, H., The History of the Crime
Against the Food Law, available from
the national Health
Federation, Monrovia, CA.
20. Williams, D.G., Teach Your Children
Well, Alternatives For the Health Conscious
Individual, September 1999, 800-219-8591.
Copyright L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.,
April 2007
http://drlwilson.com
SPECIAL
RESPONSE TO THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTINGS
ON APRIL 16, 2007 Dr. Larry Wilson
The whole world is shocked that a young
Korean student shot to death 33 of his
fellow students and faculty at Virginia
Tech. Can we understand this tragedy
in a logical way? I submit we can. Here
are a few ideas:
The Antidepressant Connection:
Let
us look at deeper causes of this senseless
killing. Many people know that
this is not the first such senseless
shooting. It is just the one involving
the most people.
I
have written about the devastating side
effects of the SSRI antidepressants. Indeed,
these drugs were involved in MANY of
the other school shootings. The
theme is often the same - senseless killing
by a young person who just happens to
have been taking SSRI antidepressants. I
have documented this in an article. Click
here to read Why Do Kids Kill?
The
police have so far denied finding any
medication in the dorm room of the shooter. However,
on the 18th of April, a woman named Barbara
called the Bill O”Reilley radio
program. She said firmly that the
shooter was on antidepressant drugs. This
would be no surprise since the boy had
been admitted to a mental hospital.
It
is well known that among the side effects
of the SSRI antidepressants are homocide. However,
he may have stopped them for some reason,
or run out. Or, on a more sinister
note, the information may be suppressed
by the drug manufacturers, as it would
cause terrible publicity if the truth
be known about the antidepressant drugs.
I
have written several other articles about
the effects of nutritional imbalances
on the brain. These include Adrenal
Burnout Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder
and several others found by clicking
here.
This
is not speculation or just my point of
view. For example, the British
Journal of Psychiatry published a study
in 2002 in which half of a group of 230
young offenders were given a vitamin
and mineral supplement, while the other
half were given a placebo. Those
who took the vitamin supplement had a
reduction in all repeat crime of 25%. Violent
crime was reduced by nearly 40%. Those
who took the placebo had no reduction
in their repeat crime over a period of
eighteen months.
An
excellent book is Diet, Crime and Delinquency
by Alexander Schauss. The book
is older, but presents excellent evidence
regarding the connection between crime
and deranged body chemistry, toxic metals,
blood sugar imbalance and other nutritional
problems.
THE
GUN CONTROL CONNECTION
We know the shooter was an unstable person. Some
believe that gun control, therefore,
would be the answer to this type of situation. However,
this is definitely debatable.
For
instance, if another student or two had
also been armed, the shooter would have
been stopped much sooner, perhaps before
anyone was killed. So the availability
of guns could also have prevented the
tragedy.
Gun
control brings up many other issues,
and one should not decide a policy based
on this one incident. Below are
the facts about guns. Please read
them carefully if you are a believer
in gun control. I am saddened that
the facts are not used in evaluating
guns. Instead, emotions take over.
The
statistics clearly prove that guns in
the hands of the American citizens prevent
thousands of crimes each year in America. Below
are a few facts I collected to support
this idea that are usually ignored by
the media.
A. Guns save many, many more
lives than they take:
* Guns
are used 2.5 million times a year in
self-defense. Law-abiding citizens use
guns to defend themselves against criminals
as many as 2.5 million times every year
-- or about 6,850 times a day.1 This
means that each year, firearms are used
more than 80 times more often to protect
the lives of honest citizens than to
take lives.2
* Of the 2.5 million times citizens
use their guns to defend themselves every
year, the overwhelming majority merely
brandish their gun or fire a warning
shot to scare off their attackers. Less
than 8% of the time, a citizen will kill
or wound his/her attacker.3
* As many as 200,000 women use
a gun every year to defend themselves
against sexual abuse.4
* Even anti-gun Clinton researchers
concede that guns are used 1.5 million
times annually for self-defense. According
to the Clinton Justice Department, there
are as many as 1.5 million cases of self-defense
every year. The National Institute of
Justice published this figure in 1997
as part of "Guns in America" --
a study which was authored by noted anti-gun
criminologists Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig.5
* Armed citizens kill more crooks
than do the police. Citizens shoot and
kill at least twice as many criminals
as police do every year (1,527 to 606).6
And readers of Newsweek learned that "only
2 percent of civilian shootings involved
an innocent person mistakenly identified
as a criminal. The 'error rate' for the
police, however, was 11 percent, more
than five times as high."7
* Handguns are the weapon of choice
for self-defense. Citizens use handguns
to protect themselves over 1.9 million
times a year.8 Many of these self-defense
handguns could be labeled as "Saturday
Night Specials."
B. Concealed carry laws
help reduce crime:
*
Nationwide: one-half million self-defense
uses. Every year, as many as one-half
million citizens defend themselves with
a firearm away from home.9
* Concealed carry laws are dropping
crime rates across the country. A comprehensive
national study determined in 1996 that
violent crime fell after states made
it legal to carry concealed firearms.
The results of the study showed:
* States which passed concealed
carry laws reduced their murder rate
by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults
by 7% and robbery by 3%;10 and
* If those states not having concealed
carry laws had adopted such laws in 1992,
then approximately 1,570 murders, 4,177
rapes, 60,000 aggravated assaults and
over 11,000 robberies would have been
avoided yearly.11
* Vermont: one of the safest five
states in the country. In Vermont, citizens
can carry a firearm without getting permission...
without paying a fee... or without
going through any kind of government-imposed
waiting period. And yet for ten
years in a row, Vermont has remained
one of the top-five, safest states
in the union -- having three times received
the "Safest State Award."12
* Florida: concealed carry helps
slash the murder rates in the state. In
the fifteen years following the passage
of Florida's concealed carry law
in 1987, over 800,000 permits to carry
firearms were issued to people in
the state.13 FBI reports show that the
homicide rate in Florida, which
in 1987 was much higher than the national
average, fell 52% during that 15-year
period -- thus putting the Florida rate
below the national average. 14
* Do firearms carry laws result
in chaos? No. Consider the case of Florida.
A citizen in the Sunshine State is far
more likely to be attacked by an alligator
than to be assaulted by a concealed carry
holder.
1.
During the first fifteen years that the
Florida law was in effect, alligator
attacks outpaced the number of crimes
committed by carry holders by a
229 to 155 margin.
2. And even the 155 "crimes" committed
by concealed carry permit holders are
somewhat misleading as most of these
infractions resulted from Floridians
who accidentally carried their firearms
into restricted areas, such as
an airport.15
C. Criminals avoid armed
citizens:
*
Kennesaw, GA. In 1982, this suburb of
Atlanta passed a law requiring heads
of households to keep at least one firearm
in the house. The residential burglary
rate subsequently dropped 89% in Kennesaw,
compared to the modest 10.4% drop in
Georgia as a whole.16
*
Ten years later (1991), the residential
burglary rate in Kennesaw was still 72%
lower than it had been in 1981, before
the law was passed.17
*
Nationwide. Statistical comparisons with
other countries show that burglars in
the United States are far less apt to
enter an occupied home than their foreign
counterparts who live in countries where
fewer civilians own firearms. Consider
the following rates showing how often
a homeowner is present when a burglar
strikes:
* Homeowner occupancy rate in the gun
control countries of Great Britain, Canada
and Netherlands: 45% (average of the
three countries); and,
* Homeowner occupancy rate in the United
States: 12.7%.18
Rapes averted when women carry
or use firearms for protection
* Orlando, FL. In 1966-67, the media
highly publicized a safety course which
taught Orlando women how to use guns.
The result: Orlando's rape rate dropped
88% in 1967, whereas the rape rate remained
constant in the rest of Florida and the
nation.19
* Nationwide. In 1979, the Carter Justice
Department found that of more than 32,000
attempted rapes, 32% were actually committed.
But when a woman was armed with a gun
or knife, only 3% of the attempted rapes
were actually successful.20
Justice Department study:
* 3/5 of felons polled agreed that "a
criminal is not going to mess around
with a victim he knows is armed with
a gun."21
* 74% of felons polled agreed that "one
reason burglars avoid houses when people
are at home is that they fear being shot
during the crime."22
*
57% of felons polled agreed that "criminals
are more worried about meeting an armed
victim than they are about running into
the police."23
References:
1. Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, "Armed
Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and
Nature of Self-Defense With a Gun," 86
The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology,
Northwestern University School of Law,
1 (Fall 1995):164.
Dr. Kleck
is a professor in the school of criminology
and criminal justice at Florida State
University in Tallahassee. He has researched
extensively and published several essays
on the gun control issue. His book, Point
Blank: Guns and Violence in America,
has become a widely cited source in the
gun control debate. In fact, this book
earned Dr. Kleck the prestigious American
Society of Criminology Michael J. Hindelang
award for 1993. This award is given for
the book published in the past two to
three years that makes the most outstanding
contribution to criminology.
Even
those who don't like the conclusions
Dr. Kleck reaches, cannot argue with
his impeccable research and methodology.
In "A Tribute to a View I Have Opposed," Marvin
E. Wolfgang writes that, "What troubles
me is the article by Gary Kleck and Marc
Gertz. The reason I am troubled is that
they have provided an almost clear-cut
case of methodologically sound research
in support of something I have theoretically
opposed for years, namely, the use of
a gun in defense against a criminal perpetrator....
I have to admit my admiration for the
care and caution expressed in this article
and this research. Can it be true that
about two million instances occur each
year in which a gun was used as a defensive
measure against crime? It is hard to
believe. Yet, it is hard to challenge
the data collected. We do not have contrary
evidence." Wolfgang, "A Tribute
to a View I Have Opposed," The Journal
of Criminal Law and Criminology, at 188.
Wolfgang
says there is no "contrary evidence." Indeed,
there are more than a dozen national
polls -- one of which was conducted by
The Los Angeles Times -- that have found
figures comparable to the Kleck-Gertz
study. Even the Clinton Justice Department
(through the National Institute of Justice)
found there were as many as 1.5 million
defensive users of firearms every year.
See National Institute of Justice, "Guns
in America: National Survey on Private
Ownership and Use of Firearms," Research
in Brief (May 1997).
As for
Dr. Kleck, readers of his materials may
be interested to know that he is a member
of the ACLU, Amnesty International USA,
and Common Cause. He is not and has never
been a member of or contributor to any
advocacy group on either side of the
gun control debate.
2. According
to the National Safety Council, the total
number of gun deaths (by accidents, suicides
and homicides) account for less than
30,000 deaths per year. See Injury Facts,
published yearly by the National Safety
Council, Itasca, Illinois.
3. Kleck
and Gertz, "Armed Resistance to
Crime," at 173, 185.
4. Kleck
and Gertz, "Armed Resistance to
Crime," at 185.
5. Philip
J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, "Guns in
America: National Survey on Private Ownership
and Use of Firearms," NIJ Research
in Brief (May 1997); available at http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/165476.txt
on the internet. The finding of 1.5 million
yearly self-defense cases did not sit
well with the anti-gun bias of the study's
authors, who attempted to explain why
there could not possibly be one and a
half million cases of self-defense every
year. Nevertheless, the 1.5 million figure
is consistent with a mountain of independent
surveys showing similar figures. The
sponsors of these studies -- nearly a
dozen -- are quite varied, and include
anti-gun organizations, news media organizations,
governments and commercial polling firms.
See also Kleck and Gertz, supra note
1, pp. 182-183.
6. Kleck,
Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America,
(1991):111-116, 148.
7. George
F. Will, "Are We 'a Nation of Cowards'?," Newsweek
(15 November 1993):93.
8. Id.
at 164, 185.
9. Dr.
Gary Kleck, interview with J. Neil Schulman, "Q
and A: Guns, crime and self-defense," The
Orange County Register (19 September
1993). In the interview with Schulman,
Dr. Kleck reports on findings from a
national survey which he and Dr. Marc
Gertz conducted in Spring, 1993 -- a
survey which findings were reported in
Kleck and Gertz, "Armed Resistance
to Crime." br>
10 One
of the authors of the University of Chicago
study reported on the study's findings
in John R. Lott, Jr., "More Guns,
Less Violent Crime," The Wall Street
Journal (28 August 1996). See also John
R. Lott, Jr. and David B. Mustard, "Crime,
Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed
Handguns," University of Chicago
(15 August 1996); and Lott, More Guns,
Less Crime (1998, 2000).
11. Lott
and Mustard, "Crime, Deterrence,
and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns."
12. Kathleen
O'Leary Morgan, Scott Morgan and Neal
Quitno, "Rankings of States in Most
Dangerous/Safest State Awards 1994 to
2003," Morgan Quitno Press (2004)
at http://www.statestats.com/dang9403.htm.
Morgan Quitno Press is an independent
private research and publishing company
which was founded in 1989. The company
specializes in reference books and monthly
reports that compare states and cities
in several different subject areas. In
the first 10 years in which they published
their Safest State Award, Vermont has
consistently remained one of the top
five safest states.
13. Memo
by Jim Smith, Secretary of State, Florida
Department of State, Division of Licensing,
Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical
Report (October 1, 2002).
14. Florida's
murder rate was 11.4 per 100,000 in 1987,
but only 5.5 in 2002. Compare Federal
Bureau of Investigation, "Crime
in the United States," Uniform Crime
Reports, (1988): 7, 53; and FBI, (2003):19,
79.
15. John
R. Lott, Jr., "Right to carry would
disprove horror stories," Kansas
City Star, (July
12, 2003).
16. Gary
Kleck, "Crime Control Through the
Private Use of Armed Force," Social
Problems 35 (February 1988):15.
17. Compare
Kleck, "Crime Control," at
15, and Chief Dwaine L. Wilson, City
of Kennesaw Police Department, "Month
to Month Statistics: 1991." (Residential
burglary rates from 1981-1991 are based
on statistics for the months of March
- October.)
18. Kleck,
Point Blank, at 140.
19. Kleck, "Crime
Control," at 13.
20. U.S.
Department of Justice, Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration, Rape Victimization
in 26 American Cities (1979), p. 31.
21. U.S.,
Department of Justice, National Institute
of Justice, "The Armed Criminal
in America: A Survey of Incarcerated
Felons," Research Report (July 1985):
27.
22. Id.
23. Id.
GUNS VERSUS DOCTORS
In fact, doctors are far more dangerous
than guns. The following will illustrate
this:
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S.
is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians
per year are 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is
0.171.
(Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept. of
Health Human Services)
Guns
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S.
is 80,000,000.
Yes, that is 80 million.
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths
per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per
gun owner is 0.000188.
Statistically,
doctors are approximately 9,000 times
more dangerous than gun owners. (NOTE:
many authorities say that doctors cause
many more than 120,000 deaths per year,
up to 700,000 per year. So most
likely, doctors are not 9000 but perhaps
60,000 more dangerous than guns.)
CAUSES OF DEATH IN AMERICA
41,650 deaths related to motor vehicle
accidents,
17,229 in falls at home and on the job,
3,306 from water in drowning,
19,457 from poisoning, in the same year,
3,369 due to fire or burns,
3,200 due to choking, and
900 from guns
Note
that the top category of vehicle accidents
is 45 times greater than the bottom
category of guns. Should we outlaw cars
and ladders?
The Illogic of Gun Control
If guns cause crime, do matches cause
arson?
If guns cause crime, does water cause
drowning?
If guns cause crime, needles cause drug
abuse?
If guns cause crime, do pencils misspell
words?
POSSIBLE TERRORIST CONNECTION
While a more remote possibility, a recent
article by law enforcement specialists
suggests that children and young people
in America are highly targeted by Al-Queda
and other Islamic terrorist groups.
The title
of the article is Mass Slaughter in our
Schools, The Terrorists’ Chilling
Plan. It is found at http://www.policeone.com/. Is
it possible in this case? Probably
not, as it was a sole shooter. However,
one can speculate and we should be aware
of methods that can be used to hypnotize
or take advantage of unstable individuals.
While it sounds bizarre, a person can
be hypnotized to commit a crime. The
one who commits the crime never even
knows what happened.
However we come to understand the events
of April 16 at Virginia Tech, I extend deepest
sympathies to all the families of those
affected. I also hope that the
investigation of the causes probes deeply
and reaches beyond knee-jerk responses.
Article # 2 :
What
do anti-depressants do to your brain?
REDUX: Thu Jan 2 13:37:49 2003
Posted by: CULTURESHOCKTV.COM
Tue Jan 4 00:17:06 2005
By Sue
Ella Deadwyler
They’re
not approved for minors, but the Prozac
family of drugs taken by pre-schoolers
has increased alarmingly. Between 1995
and 1999, the rate of children under
six using Ritalin increased 23 percent.
Other Prozac family drugs increased in
children under six by an unbelievable
580 percent. Astounding, since such drugs
have not been approved for anyone under
18 years old. Not only that, Ritalin
and Prozac are being prescribed together
for at least 30 percent of the children
taking SSRI antidepressants.
By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Prozac:
Panacea or Pandora? Updated 2001 Edition
Author: Ann Blake Tracy, PhD
Dangerous
drugs called “serotonergic agents” are
also known as Specific Serotonin Reuptake
Inhibitors (SSRIs) because they throw
the metabolism of serotonin out of whack.
They increase the level of serotonin
in the brain but decrease the process
by which the body uses it.
What
is serotonin? Serotonin is
an essential chemical produced by the
body.
Where
is it found? It’s in
the blood and gastric mucous membranes
of all mammals.
What
does it do? It helps regulate
mood and mental health.
Consider
this:
Adequate
serotonin is an essential chemical for
good mental health.
Elevated
levels of serotonin have been found in
persons with psychosis or schizophrenia,
mood disorders, organic brain disease,
mental retardation, autism and Alzheimer’s
disease.
Low levels
of serotonin metabolism are found in
others with depression, anxiety, suicide,
violence, arson, substance abuse, insomnia,
violent nightmares, impulsive behavior,
reckless driving, exhibitionism, hostility,
argumentative behavior, etc.
Adequate
is, obviously, the preferred level of
serotonin and no medication is needed.
Elevated
levels of serotonin might indicate a
need to lower the level, but SSRIs aren’t
the answer. SSRIs further elevate serotonin
levels and restrict its use in the brain.
Low
levels of serotonin might indicate a
need to raise the level, but SSRIs aren’t
the answer to that either. Again, at
the same time SSRIs elevate serotonin
levels, they also interfere with its
metabolism. Both elevated levels and
low levels of serotonin are worsened
when SSRIs are ingested.
All anti-depressants
are SSRIs but Prozac is best known. Dr.
Tracy states that many other drugs should
be simply numbered Prozac #2, Prozac
#3, Prozac #4, etc., because they have
the same effects. A short list of Prozac
act-alikes are Sarafem, Zoloft, Paxil,
Luvox, Effexor, Ritalin (and other amphetamines),
Serzone, Celexa, Fen-Phen, Redux, Merida,
LSD, PCP and Ecstasy. The SSRI Dextromethorphan
is found in most over-the-counter cough
and cold medications and Wellbutrin (Zyban)
is recommended to smokers who want to
quit.
They’re
not approved for minors, but the Prozac
family of drugs taken by pre-schoolers
has increased alarmingly. Between 1995
and 1999, the rate of children under
six using Ritalin increased 23 percent.
Other Prozac family drugs increased in
children under six by an unbelievable
580 percent. Astounding, since such drugs
have not been approved for anyone under
18 years old. Not only that, Ritalin
and Prozac are being prescribed together
for at least 30 percent of the children
taking SSRI antidepressants.
Dr. Tracy
illustrated the critical problem of SSRIs
in factual reports of individuals involved
in serotonergic-induced incidents. Medications
involved are indicated by parentheses.
Pages two and three of this newsletter
recounts some of the SSRI-related tragedies
that have occurred since her first book
was published in September 1991.
______________________________________________________________
Dr. Ann
Blake Tracy with a degree in psychology
and an emphasis in the biological and
forensic areas, has worked as an investigative
reporter, served as Director of the Coalition
for a Drug Free Utah, headed the Utah
Prozac Survivor’s Support Group,
testified before the FDA and congressional
subcommittee members and testifies as
an expert witness in Prozac-related cases.
Other
SSRIs identified by generic names: Amitriptyline,
Clomipramine, Desipramine, Doxepin, Imipramine,
Nortriptyline, Protriptyline, Fluvoxamine,
Fluoxetine, Paroxetine, Sertraline, Trazodone,
Citalopram, Isocarboxazid, Phenelzine,
Selegiline, Tranylcypromine. SSRI Amphetamines:
Ritalin, Cocaine, Fenfluramine, Reserpine,
Redux, Meridia, Buspirone, Sumatriptan,
Lithium, Electro Convulsive Treatment
(ECT), Dextromethorphan, Meperidine,
Venlafaxine, Nefazodone, Zyprexa, Rispiral,
Remeron. Dr. Tracy credited Kirk Mills,
M.D., American Family Physician, as partial
source.
November 2001
______________________________________________________________
Prozac
sales are estimated at $8 million daily.
Its manufacturer pays untold amounts
to quietly settle complaints
of suicide-related deaths of its users.
Tragedies
attributed to People on Mind-Altering
SSRI Drugs
(Drugs involved in the following incidents
are indicated by parentheses.)
School
Shootings
Eric Harris (Luvox) participated in the
school shooting in Littleton, Colorado.
Legal action is pending.
Kip Kinkle
(Prozac/Ritalin withdrawal) Springfield,
OR, killed his parents, then went to
school and killed two classmates.
Jason
Hoffman (Effexor/Celexa) was involved
in the school shooting in El Cajon, California.
Elizabeth
Bush (Paxil), a 13-year-old, was responsible
for a school shooting in Pennsylvania.
Before taking the drug, she was very
religious citing Mother Theresa as one
of her main heroes. She described her
recent loss of spiritual feelings after
taking Paxil for only a few months.
Cory
Baadesgaard (Paxil/Effexor), Matawa,
WA school shooting
Stand-off
at school in Pocatello, ID in 1998 by
a boy (Zoloft) having a Zoloft-induced
seizure
Chris
Shanahan (Paxil), 15-year-old in Rigby,
ID, out of the blue, killed a woman.
Other
Incidents Involving Youngsters
Chris
Fetters (Prozac), a 13-year-old in Iowa
killed her favorite aunt.
Matt
Miller, 13, in Overland Park, KS hung
himself in his bedroom closet after only
6 days on Zoloft.
Winatchee,
WA, 43 people were wrongfully imprisoned
under false accusations in a sexual abuse “witch
hunt” started by a child taking
Prozac and Paxil. It cost the state of
WA millions for wrongful imprisonment.
Seth
Privacky (Wellbutrin), 18-year-old from
Dalton Township, MI, shot his grandfather,
parents, brother and brother’s
girlfriend while celebrating Thanksgiving.
Jarred
Viktor (Paxil), 15-year-old, Escondido,
CA, stabbed his grandmother 61 times.
He took Paxil five days.
Jeff
Franklin (Prozac/Ritalin), Huntsville,
AL, killed his parents as they came home
from work. He used a sledge hammer, hatchet,
butcher knife and mechanic’s file,
then attacked his younger brothers and
sister.
Tragedies
by Adults
Mr. & Mrs.
Phil Hartman (Zoloft), a wrongful death
court case was filed but settled by the
Zoloft manufacturer.
Sergi
Babarin’s (SSRI withdrawal) Salt
Lake Family History Library shooting
left three dead.
Matthew
Beck (Luvox), Connecticut lottery shooting
left five dead in a murder/suicide.
Edward
Leary (Prozac) was involved in the New
York City Subway bombing.
Nick
Mansies (Paxil), New Jersey, was convicted
of killing a little boy who was selling
cookies door-to-door.
Dana
Sue Gray (Paxil), Orange County, CA,
described as a very caring nurse, killed
several elderly people.
Officer
Stephen Christian (Prozac), one of Dallas
Police force’s finest, ran into
a police substation shooting at fellow
officers and was killed. A wrongful death
case was settled by makers of Prozac.
David
Rothman (Prozac) killed two co-workers
and himself at the Department of Agriculture
in Ingelwood, CA. Legal action is pending.
Williams
Evans (Zoloft) shot a co-worker at Columbus,
Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, then
himself.
Marilyn
Lemak (Zoloft) of Naperville, IL killed
her three children.
Christopher
Vasquez (Zoloft) butchered Michael McMorrow
in Central Park.
Megan
Hogg (Prozac) killed her three little
girls by duct-taping their mouths and
noses before taking a handful of pills
in a suicide attempt.
Vera
Espinoza (Prozac), Randolph, VT, shot
her small son and daughter, then herself.
Legal action is pending.
Mr. Cunningham
(Prozac), an elderly man in Layton, UT,
axed his wife and daughter to death.
Margaret
Kastanis (Prozac), West Jordan, UT, killed
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