Vegas shooting- the subject of psych drugs has already made the news

[Guest [Le...]]

With the enormous cultural changes that have occurred in the past 50 years, violence is so mainstream and readily spread through movies, television and now electronically, and the tools available now are so perfect for mass slaughter, a segment of the population is bound to be salivating to go out and mow people down.

 

Some people are just killers, and as another member mentioned already, this guy's father may have passed him some pretty crappy genes.

 

I'm much more concerned at how many NEW folks are going to be getting hooked on benzos and SSRIs, not just because of senseless massacres like this one, but owing also to the stress of simply trying to exist in a world that has become exponentially worse with all of the stupid rhetorical BS that's being spouted every day.

 

I grew up in the 60s having to go through a decade of the absolute terror of being nuked, and now we get to go through it all over again? Seriously?

 

The newbies that come on here all stressed out and on drugs, who were simply trying to cope with a much stupider world, are not going to run out and murder masses of people, I'll betcha that.

 

[[be...]]

With the enormous cultural changes that have occurred in the past 50 years, violence is so mainstream and readily spread through movies, television and now electronically, and the tools available now are so perfect for mass slaughter, a segment of the population is bound to be salivating to go out and mow people down.

 

Some people are just killers, and as another member mentioned already, this guy's father may have passed him some pretty crappy genes.

 

I'm much more concerned at how many NEW folks are going to be getting hooked on benzos and SSRIs, not just because of senseless massacres like this one, but owing also to the stress of simply trying to exist in a world that has become exponentially worse with all of the stupid rhetorical BS that's being spouted every day.

 

I grew up in the 60s having to go through a decade of the absolute terror of being nuked, and now we get to go through it all over again? Seriously?

 

The newbies that come on here all stressed out and on drugs, who were simply trying to cope with a much stupider world, are not going to run out and murder masses of people, I'll betcha that.

 

I just don't believe "a segment of the population" or even "some people" are that evil.  It should be a tiny, tiny minority, like it once was.  I do not blame television, movies or video games.  It is because not everyone can metabolize psychiatric medications the same way and it makes them violent.  I have had a taste of what it is like to know anger like nothing I have ever experienced in my life recovering from these drugs and it's not in-keeping with my normal state of being or even justifiable anger, though I have that too.  I suspect it has something to do with the CYP450 gene.

 

And no one here is suggesting that BB's are going to run out and murder masses of people!  This happens to a minority of susceptible people. 

[[pr...]]

With the enormous cultural changes that have occurred in the past 50 years, violence is so mainstream and readily spread through movies, television and now electronically, and the tools available now are so perfect for mass slaughter, a segment of the population is bound to be salivating to go out and mow people down.

 

Some people are just killers, and as another member mentioned already, this guy's father may have passed him some pretty crappy genes.

 

I'm much more concerned at how many NEW folks are going to be getting hooked on benzos and SSRIs, not just because of senseless massacres like this one, but owing also to the stress of simply trying to exist in a world that has become exponentially worse with all of the stupid rhetorical BS that's being spouted every day.

 

I grew up in the 60s having to go through a decade of the absolute terror of being nuked, and now we get to go through it all over again? Seriously?

 

The newbies that come on here all stressed out and on drugs, who were simply trying to cope with a much stupider world, are not going to run out and murder masses of people, I'll betcha that.

 

I just don't believe "a segment of the population" or even "some people" are that evil.  It should be a tiny, tiny minority, like it once was.  I do not blame television, movies or video games.  It is because not everyone can metabolize psychiatric medications the same way and it makes them violent.  I have had a taste of what it is like to know anger like nothing I have ever experienced in my life recovering from these drugs and it's not in-keeping with my normal state of being or even justifiable anger, though I have that too.  I suspect it has something to do with the CYP450 gene.

 

And no one here is suggesting that BB's are going to run out and murder masses of people!  This happens to a minority of susceptible people.

 

 

 

well, i sure am glad to hear this and i do agree even though i am now afraid and have anxiety about seeing Tori Amos. but i have to remind myself of this.

[[be...]]

I hope you'll be up for seeing Tori when the time comes.

[[Fl...]]

I just don't believe "a segment of the population" or even "some people" are that evil.  It should be a tiny, tiny minority, like it once was.  I do not blame television, movies or video games.  It is because not everyone can metabolize psychiatric medications the same way and it makes them violent.  I have had a taste of what it is like to know anger like nothing I have ever experienced in my life recovering from these drugs and it's not in-keeping with my normal state of being or even justifiable anger, though I have that too.  I suspect it has something to do with the CYP450 gene.

 

And no one here is suggesting that BB's are going to run out and murder masses of people!  This happens to a minority of susceptible people.

 

Well said.

 

I too have a taste of the benzo rage. Never experienced anything like that before coming off of clonazepam.  The benzo also caused me to drink 3x as much alcohol as I did before. One might say that I was genetically predisposed to that and that might even be true, but would I have ever increased my alcohol intake that much if I had never touched a benzo? I highly, highly doubt it. Faulty genes or the influence of a powerful psychoactive drug? We will never know, but having experienced it firsthand I believe the majority of the blame lies in the latter.

 

There are other factors that could be at play here, I doubt that psych drugs can explain the phenomenon 100%, but I don't believe that the media or video games plays a huge role. I heard another interesting fact about the shooter that I won't go into here as it doesn't pertain to drugs and it's another hot button topic, but it might actually support the theory of the shooter having some mental issues.

 

This is a subject that should be open to debate. I would love to see some more solid facts either way. I'm just not sure why in the benzo community that there would be a lot of pushback to the idea that psych drugs might be a major factor. I know enough from personal experience and from almost 7 years of hearing other people's stories and reading numerous material on the subject that the theory makes a lot of sense. I might feel differently if it didn't seem like psych drugs were a common denominator in most of these killings, but as it stands the evidence seems pretty damning to me.

[[At...]]

Right now this story is media driven, but if our Fed, State and Local Govts bite on it we will have a lot to worry about.

Will we be thrown into a special group of people that will be heavily scrutinized for a host various things that are otherwise considered constitutional rights?

Whether you are for or against gun control the last thing we need is another tool for our already too intrusive government to use for the sake of "people control".

The fact that this is headline news is very disturbing to say the least.

 

For the record I am not an Alex Jones conspiracy theorist.  I'm a realist that lives in a state full of political hacks that salivate over tragedies like this to push their anti-constitutional agendas.

[[Lo...]]

Right now this story is media driven, but if our Fed, State and Local Govts bite on it we will have a lot to worry about.

Will we be thrown into a special group of people that will be heavily scrutinized for a host various things that are otherwise considered constitutional rights?

Whether you are for or against gun control the last thing we need is another tool for our already too intrusive government to use for the sake of "people control".

The fact that this is headline news is very disturbing to say the least.

 

For the record I am not an Alex Jones conspiracy theorist.  I'm a realist that lives in a state full of political hacks that salivate over tragedies like this to push their anti-constitutional agendas.

 

Great post. Thanks for saying what's been on my mind for quite a while. Once the local governments start to decide who gets to stay on psych drugs and who gets to get off of them, as well as who gets to take what psych drugs in the first place, it will get really scary. There are plenty of underinformed people out there who think that you can just yank someone off of ativan and or just put them on Vistaril and/or Buspar. "They are all sedatives, so one should just replace the other, etc". Also, once a person is caught in the system enough (whether they started taking psych drugs because they trusted their doctor or whether they were forced to take them), compliance becomes  a name of the game, and breaking out of that system means loss of any meaningful help.

 

Since benzos and all other psych drugs are medically legitimized, it's going to be really hard when stuck and sandwiched between the "you must stay on these meds forever" crowd and "you must get off of these pills right now" crowd. And if you'd recently gotten off your meds, but are still not seen as "normal" by society's standards, there will be a pressure to conform again and take them again.

 

When you really look at the society at large, it is amazing how much pressure to perform/conform there is that drives people to psych meds or keeps them off of them. For a lot of us who're caught in between, it's heck of a struggle, because it feels like going against the norm and against the grain to a large degree.

[[Fl...]]

Right now this story is media driven, but if our Fed, State and Local Govts bite on it we will have a lot to worry about.

Will we be thrown into a special group of people that will be heavily scrutinized for a host various things that are otherwise considered constitutional rights?

Whether you are for or against gun control the last thing we need is another tool for our already too intrusive government to use for the sake of "people control".

The fact that this is headline news is very disturbing to say the least.

 

For the record I am not an Alex Jones conspiracy theorist.  I'm a realist that lives in a state full of political hacks that salivate over tragedies like this to push their anti-constitutional agendas.

 

Great post. Thanks for saying what's been on my mind for quite a while. Once the local governments start to decide who gets to stay on psych drugs and who gets to get off of them, as well as who gets to take what psych drugs in the first place, it will get really scary. There are plenty of underinformed people out there who think that you can just yank someone off of ativan and or just put them on Vistaril and/or Buspar. "They are all sedatives, so one should just replaced the other, etc". Also, once a person is caught in the system enough (whether they started taking psych drugs because they trusted their doctor or whether they were forced to take them), compliance becomes  a name of the game, and breaking out of that system means loss of any meaningful help.

 

Since benzos and all other psych drugs are medically legitimized, it's going to be really hard when stuck and sandwiched between the "you must stay on these meds forever" crowd and "you must get off of these pill right now" crowd. And if you'd recently gotten off your meds, but are still not seen as "normal" by society's standards, there will be a pressure to conform again and take them again.

 

When you really look at the society at large, it is amazing how much pressure to perform/conform there is that drives people to psych meds or keeps them off of them. For a lot of us who're caught in between, it's heck of a struggle, because it feels like going against the norm and against the grain to a large degree.

 

I agree with the overreach of government thing but lets stay away from that as it is off topic and political discussions will get the thread shut down.

 

-------------

 

Tucker Carlson mentioned the psych drug angle again tonight. Glad they are at least talking about it.

[[Lo...]]

Ok, but, technically speaking, we are in an Off Topic thread already, and these are not visible to the general public, anyway.

[[At...]]

 

Great post. Thanks for saying what's been on my mind for quite a while. Once the local governments start to decide who gets to stay on psych drugs and who gets to get off of them, as well as who gets to take what psych drugs in the first place, it will get really scary. There are plenty of underinformed people out there who think that you can just yank someone off of ativan and or just put them on Vistaril and/or Buspar. "They are all sedatives, so one should just replace the other, etc". Also, once a person is caught in the system enough (whether they started taking psych drugs because they trusted their doctor or whether they were forced to take them), compliance becomes  a name of the game, and breaking out of that system means loss of any meaningful help.

 

Since benzos and all other psych drugs are medically legitimized, it's going to be really hard when stuck and sandwiched between the "you must stay on these meds forever" crowd and "you must get off of these pills right now" crowd. And if you'd recently gotten off your meds, but are still not seen as "normal" by society's standards, there will be a pressure to conform again and take them again.

 

When you really look at the society at large, it is amazing how much pressure to perform/conform there is that drives people to psych meds or keeps them off of them. For a lot of us who're caught in between, it's heck of a struggle, because it feels like going against the norm and against the grain to a large degree.

 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

...and in the future would law abiding people be unable to exercise their 2nd amendment right (if they choose to do so) based on the fact that they were on or are on a benzo or an AD? 

It may seem like I'm getting ahead of myself, but we need to watch what kind of language the political class uses in all legislation.

 

 

 

I agree with the overreach of government thing but lets stay away from that as it is off topic and political discussions will get the thread shut down.

 

 

Oooops, that was the last one...promise!!

[[Fl...]]

Ok, but, technically speaking, we are in an Off Topic thread already, and these are not visible to the general public, anyway.

 

As far as I know, political discussions are still a no-go on BB. Unfortunately some folks can't have a civil discussion about certain matters so it is probably for the better.

[[At...]]

It's unfortunate that this might be the way that benzos make it to the US media.

[[Fl...]]

It's unfortunate that this might be the way that benzos make it to the US media.

 

If that's the case I am all for it. At least it highlights how these drugs can fundamentally alter brain chemistry. To date most media coverage focuses on addiction which is misleading and incorrect in most cases. If the public understands that these drugs can cause really bad things even if they aren't abused, that is a step in the right direction.

[Guest [ba...]]

Ok, but, technically speaking, we are in an Off Topic thread already, and these are not visible to the general public, anyway.

 

As far as I know, political discussions are still a no-go on BB. Unfortunately some folks can't have a civil discussion about certain matters so it is probably for the better.

 

And with heightened sensitivities (from benzo use/withdrawal), it's even more difficult.  Just seeing the title of this thread is upsetting to some.

[[pr...]]

There are other factors that could be at play here, I doubt that psych drugs can explain the phenomenon 100%, but I don't believe that the media or video games plays a huge role. I heard another interesting fact about the shooter that I won't go into here as it doesn't pertain to drugs and it's another hot button topic, but it might actually support the theory of the shooter having some mental issues.

 

 

I might feel differently if it didn't seem like psych drugs were a common denominator in most of these killings, but as it stands the evidence seems pretty damning to me.

 

 

yeah, see that's the thing -- there are always a lot of other factors at play but it always seems that these events are filled with people on a cocktail of meds. even the young/actor/artist peeps - there is always that common denominator of not just one or two drugs -- but a cocktail. i do not doubt this is the case as well even though there maybe other factors. can't just blame it on one thing but it seems that cocktail is always in the mix. and in that cocktail there is always a benzo or two and a psyche med or two as well as other street drugs.

 

Tucker Carlson mentioned the psych drug angle again tonight. Glad they are at least talking about it.

 

who is Tucker Carlson?

[[id...]]

The views on this matter are going to differ depending on what reaction people had to psych drugs.

 

I experienced such a drastic change in personality while on an SSRI, SNRI and K (including rage which is totally uncharacteristic of me while off the psych meds) that I am prone to believe that the psych drugs might have played a major role in this tragedy. However, I've talked to many people who got better on SSRI's or APs (at least temporarily), so they would tend to downplay that those types of drugs COULD play a significant role in mass shootings.

 

As to video games, TV, etc. Globally people used to be in real wars pretty much all the time before, most men killed at least several people in their life time (think territory disputes, expansions, world wars, civil wars). It's a little bit different for the US, but still, last mandatory draft was in the 1970s, if I am not mistaken. Statistically, we are seeing major decrease in real life violence. Video games and TV are filling up the gaps so to speak.

[Guest [ch...]]

It's true there are fewer wars than there used to be. Maybe because now the players are big states who could blow the world up 100 times over with nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high.

 

On the other hand there's more of these random mass murders than there used to be. Perhaps because they didn't have AK-47's in ancient Rome? Or because they didn't have SSRI's or benzos?

 

 

[Guest [ch...]]

> i am now afraid about seeing Tori Amos

Hey, I love Tori Amos. Where/when are you seeing her?

 

(Just trying to lighten the conversation )

[[be...]]

Here is the study referred to in the Natural News article I posted earlier in this thread:

 

Psychotropic drugs and homicide: A prospective cohort study from Finland : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471985/

 

Benzodiazepine and analgesic use was linked with a higher risk of homicidal offending, and the findings remained highly significant even after correction for multiple comparisons.

[[Es...]]

Psych drugs or not, for all it is worth, there is an extremely complex history to this man's life.....

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/10/02/las-vegas-gunman-liked-to-gamble-listened-to-country-music-lived-quiet-retired-life-before-massacre/?utm_term=.505dacfe3927

 

Excellent article, LRF. It’s terrible what happened. Unimaginable. But one cannot stop wondering what went inside this man’s mind. If he were in opium WD, like Bets suggested, he wouldn’t have been able to execute such a murder. He had violence and aggression in his genes. His father was a criminal. He had behavioral and chemical addiction. They always go hand in hand. He was addicted to gambling. I think he had an anti-social personality disorder. Probably hated ppl. I bet SSRIs/SNRIs and maybe some amphetamine psych meds were also involved. For he had lots of energy to carry it all out. Or maybe he was BP, in a manic phase. Hence the energy. He certainly was not in acute opiate WD. I mean being addicted to opiates makes one suffer WD sxs anyway. But full WD would make it impossible to execute such a mass murder.

 

I guess he found means to obtain his opiate pills from another doctor. He was very enterpreneurial. Lots of energy. Gambling, travelling, several houses. Not a neurotic personality type. He certainly planned the whole thing, together with his suicide. I mean maybe he didn’t want to live anymore, cause of the addiction. But he planned to kill as many ppl as he could before killing himself. That’s my theory. I also think he was numbed by psych meds while he was carrying on this massacre.

 

There’s another factor in an opiate, BDZ or alcohol addiction. At some point one reaches such a level of tolerance, that one can “function” only on certain amounts of pills. As we can do nothing for the victims of this tragedy and their families, we can only speculate WHY he did it.

 

In fact, finding the cause leads to preventing such tragedies in the future. Most mass murders result from a combination of mental illness and SSRIs/SNRIs. It is well proven these meds cause HOSTILITY.

 

I became quite hostile and aggressive on SSRIs, but I knew these were the drugs, not me. This side effect fades away a lot  with time. But I often ask myself how much of my hostility can be attributed to SSRIs. However, I’m not so mentally unstable as to hurt anyone. By words or deeds. I’m trying to be an impartial spectator of my own thoughts and feelings.

 

This man was certainly an aggressive, introvert, anti-social type. The chief question is: was he also on these psych meds? What mental illness/personality disorder did he suffer from? There should be stricter laws on permission to buy arms in the US. What? You buy a gun in the same shop you buy a guitar? This is insane.

 

Factors like mental illness/personality disorder/psych med addiction should be verified before an individual obtains a permission to buy a gun. There should be medical computer records concerning each individual who has such a permission. Gun shop owners should obtain access to these records before selling a gun to an individual. Cause a certificate by a pdoc: “A person is mentally stable and can buy a gun, yada, yada, yada” can easily be falsified.

 

Gun shop owners should closely cooperate with the police, have psych medical records themselves. And have access to medical records of ppl to whom they sell guns.

 

There’s something terribly wrong with the US law if such a tragedy occurs. Freedom to own a gun? What about the freedom of those fifty ppl to stay alive? And the freedom of several hundreds not to suffer injuries?

 

What about the freedom of the victims’ families to keep their loved ones alive? I guess if we don’t know why the gun law in the US is so terribly screwed up, HUGE MONEY IS INVOLVED. Just like in all the Big Pharma business.

[[Es...]]

I have a bit of doubt that psych drugs may have played a role in this horrible tragedy. Obviously, the shooter had a very clear and elaborate plan that probably took months to prepare and put it into action. I think this time, we are looking at cold, extremely calculated, very meticulously premeditated crime that someone on psych drugs would just not have the cognitive powers or the physical strength or the required dexterity to pull it off. It may just as easily be that this was an angry, violent man who had a lot of grudges and seething anger and a lot of time, money and resources to pull it off.

 

Seriously, someone under the influence of psychiatric drugs would probably end up shooting himself in his rear by accident, rather than killing and harming so many innocent people in such a premeditated, sickly precise, deliberate way.

 

Sorry, LRF. I disagree. I never had a sharper mind than while being on Prozac. I started Prozac during uni and graduated with honors from three faculties. I was also on benzos at the time. While on benzos alone, it was difficult for me to think, learn etc. Also in WD. Although I know I’m reasonably intelligent and talented in certain areas. Prozac gave me an incredible mental energy and alertness.

 

Benzos act in the opposite way. So many mass murders in the US were committed by ppl on SSRIs/SNRIs. These psych meds make ppl hostile and calculating. I don’t know their exact action on the brain. I’m not a neurologist. I guess even neurologists don’t know. But my experience with Prozac is it increased my cognitive functioning by 50%. And I’m certainly addicted to it. The same was with Wellbutrin XR. I just couldn’t stand the side effects.

 

This man was driven by madness, his hate towards ppl. It gave him an enormous physical strength and mental capacities. He was obsessed by one idea and he carried it perfectly. I’m 100% sure he acted alone. I know it’s tragic and I get very emotional while writing it. I’m almost obsessed with thinking how this man’s sick mind worked. What was the thought process that led him to act in such an inhuman way. And what chemistry was involved. Both his own brain’s and Big Pharma’s chemistry.

[[Es...]]

I was curious so I did a little poking around. Apparently someone is documenting this phenomenon.

 

SSRI Stories is a collection of over 6,000 stories that have appeared in the media (newspapers, TV, scientific journals) in which prescription drugs were mentioned and in which the drugs may be linked to a variety of adverse outcomes including violence.

 

https://ssristories.org/

 

Exactly! Most murders/acts of violence include SSRIs/SNRIs. Dr Peter Breggin is an expert on these cases and he helps the families of victims who lost their loved ones obtain money from Big Pharma companies. As FloridaGuy mentioned, these mass murders started like 20 yrs ago, with launching SSRIs on the market. Even tricyclic ADs weren’t so dangerous.

[[Es...]]

 

Another thing to note is that it would seem to me that benzos would not likely cause this kind of violent behavior while the person is taking them. The real problem with benzos is after you come off of them. SSRI's seem to cause more problems while the person is taking them. This would jive with my experience- I didn't have noticeable issues with benzos while I was taking them, but I had to discontinue SSRI's because the side effects were horrendous. So benzos are definitely different than other psych drugs and SSRI's seem to be a more common denominator in these mass killings.

 

Apparently the Vegas shooter was on diazepam. I personally doubt if this had anything to do with it. Maybe the autopsy will show other drugs in his system. Maybe this had nothing to do with drugs. All I know is that we shouldn't ignore the possibility of a connection between psych drugs and mass killings.

 

I agree 100% diazepam had nothing to do with it. He was not a regular user. Was prescribed diazepam for anxiety. The question is: where this anxiety came from? SSRIs/SNRIs? Maybe the pdoc/GP who gave him ADs did not want to give him benzos. He may have had several pdocs. Just like he owned several houses. This was not a type who sits at home crippled with benzo-induced agoraphobia. He had lots of energy. Out and about all the time. Wow, if diazepam gave me such energy. I would love this psych med. Diazepam without SSRI made me fear everything. I doubt he was in any kind of WD. And diazepam doesn’t make ppl violent, IMO. Only lethargic and depressed. Alcohol makes ppl violent. Maybe they gave him diazepam to counteract the anxiety caused by an SSRI/SNRI.

[[Es...]]

Are they seriously mentally ill, or did the drugs make them homicidal? Maybe they had some mild or moderate mental problems that were compounded by the drugs? Of course we can't ignore that people who take these kinds of drugs are more likely to have anxiety, depression etc that might predispose them to erratic or violent behavior, but would they have ever done anything like this if they weren't pushed over the edge by a drug or drugs?

 

Knowing what we know from personal experience I'm not sure why it would be a stretch for BB's to believe that psych drugs could be directly responsible for something like this. The fact that most of us don't end up doing something like this doesn't prove anything and the fact that many if not most of these people who commit these crimes are on psych drugs should raise a lot of questions.

 

These kinds of killings are much more prevalent today than they were 40 years ago and there seem to be a lot of them in the USA. Is it a coincidence that the number of these shootings has increased exponentially after the deinstitutionalization of mental illness and the explosion of the use of SSRI's in a country where 5% of the worlds population consumes 50% of the world's pharmaceutical drugs?

 

I think they are seriously mentally ill. When SSRIs/SNRIs come into play, it becomes a disaster. Supposing someone who is BP gets a prescription for an SSRI/SNRI? Or a schizophrenic? All hell breaks loose. There are hundreds or thousands of ppl who don’t get a correct diagnosis and are prescribed wrong drugs. Which ruin their lives for decades.

 

I agree 100% with the rest. I guess not many ppl on BBs have a vast experience with SSRIs/SNRIs. I have a 15 yrs experience with these psych meds and know exactly how they changed my psyche. It also takes a very serious mental illness and personality disorder to commit such a mass murder. But IMO, everything points in the direction of SSRIs/SNRIs. I also wonder if he may have had a drinking problem. Alcohol makes ppl depressed, violent and gives them destructive energy. As far as I know, benzos don’t act this way. I’m not sure about Xanax, which resembles alcohol with its euphorizing properties.

[[be...]]

 

Well said.

 

I too have a taste of the benzo rage. Never experienced anything like that before coming off of clonazepam. The benzo also caused me to drink 3x as much alcohol as I did before. One might say that I was genetically predisposed to that and that might even be true, but would I have ever increased my alcohol intake that much if I had never touched a benzo? I highly, highly doubt it. Faulty genes or the influence of a powerful psychoactive drug? We will never know, but having experienced it firsthand I believe the majority of the blame lies in the latter.

 

There are other factors that could be at play here, I doubt that psych drugs can explain the phenomenon 100%, but I don't believe that the media or video games plays a huge role. I heard another interesting fact about the shooter that I won't go into here as it doesn't pertain to drugs and it's another hot button topic, but it might actually support the theory of the shooter having some mental issues.

 

This is a subject that should be open to debate. I would love to see some more solid facts either way. I'm just not sure why in the benzo community that there would be a lot of pushback to the idea that psych drugs might be a major factor. I know enough from personal experience and from almost 7 years of hearing other people's stories and reading numerous material on the subject that the theory makes a lot of sense. I might feel differently if it didn't seem like psych drugs were a common denominator in most of these killings, but as it stands the evidence seems pretty damning to me.

 

This happened to me too on benzos.  My alcohol consumption increased 3-fold or more.  Previous to benzos I never drank much, only socially or some drinks on the weekend, but on benzos at some point I started to drink nightly, 2 or more drinks.  I actually had to ask hubby about this because I have a hard time recollecting this time.  I think the benzos made me disinhibited and there was probably a drive for relief from anxiety due to unrecognized tolerance w/d symptoms somewhere along the line.  Of course, genetics could have played a part in this too.  I have little interest in alcohol now and am afraid of it.