Anti Depressant is a Mind Altering Drug

Imagine that

Published on February 16, 2005 By Dr Guy In Current Events

In a case just decided upon by a jury, a boy of 12 years was found guilty of murdering his grandparents as they slept. He was given a 30 year sentence, the minimum for the crime.

There is nothing really new there that would make this a case to be discussed. It is unfortunate that these incidences occur with all too regularity.

What sets this case apart is the defense attorney tried to gte himoff with a NGI due to the drug Zoloft, an Anti-depressant.

What is even more outrageous is the attorney called the drug 'a mind altering' drug. Well close the barn door and milk the cow! No shit sherlock! Of course it is mind altering! it is an A-N-T-I-D-E-P-R-E-S-S-A-N-T.

I dont think I am alone, but when I am depressed, I am not talking about a dent in my butt! It means that my attitude is negative. My Mind, in other words.

If we are going to have these quack ambulance chasers slamming every mood altering drug as mind altering and blaming them for every crime under the sun, then 2 things will happen.

1 is that he drug companies will go out of business due to the other ambulance chasing shysters suing them out of it. The Second is no one will be allowed to take any mood altering drug since it could potentially lead to death and destruction.

And many good people will suffer. NOt the shysters. Not the drug companies, they just wont make any of the drugs. But you mother, brothere, sister and best friend will. For instead of being able to lead a normal productive life with a little help, they will have to suffer their dementia as there is no solution for their situation.

Before these shysters convince another jury of their idiocy, I would hope that most people look beyond the shallowness of the amoral lawyers and realize the natural end point of blaming everything on anything but personal responsibility will lead to the end of a sane and rational society. More than Osama bin Laden, Lawyers are destroying America, one shyster case at a time.

Comments

kingbee

on Feb 16, 2005

it's not as if the manufacturers of some antidepressants weren't aware for some time now of their dangerous unsuitability for use by adolescents. are we expecting too much by asking the pharmaceutical industry to conduct business responsibly?

clearly we must be or there wouldnt be a need for fda oversight.

since that aint workin out too well either, it's a good thing the new bush budget provides for a sizeable increase for additional executive branch hiring. maybe some of that can be used to cobble together an agency to ensure the fda gets outta bed with the drug manufacturers occasionally. (as the late groucho marx once purportedly remarked to a female contestant on 'you bet your life' after she announced she had 5+ children: 'look lady, i like my cigar too but i take it outa my mouth once in a while')

someone should be in jail for the murders that kid committed but the lawyers are way down on the list in my opinion--well below those fda officials who didnt do their job at all and the drug company execs who purposely ignored the data and kept pushing their product into the mouths of kids and dollars into their wallets.

Moderateman

on Feb 16, 2005

I would comment but I am to depressed and confused by my anti depressents. heh heh heh

Dr Guy

on Feb 16, 2005

someone should be in jail for the murders that kid committed but the lawyers are way down on the list in my opinion--well below those fda officials who didnt do their job at all and the drug company execs who purposely ignored the data and kept pushing their product into the mouths of kids and dollars into their wallets.

Nice allegation, with no supporting facts. Many drugs are dangerous. But just because I am taking Aspirin, does not give me an excuse to break the law. The Lawyer presented no evidence that the drug does anything he contended it to do. The simple facts of the case are the kid got mad, broke the law and tried an NGI via a legitimate drug that has many beneficial effects, and the side effects do not include murder.

Myrrander

on Feb 16, 2005

why dr. guy, you've managed to write something I agree with.

cheers

butterflytuddles

on Feb 16, 2005

was the reason why a 15 year old was on Zoloft in the first place ever raised at trial? I mean Zoloft is the 'baby tylenol' of the anti-depressant world but even still... for an adolesant who's hormones are pretty inbalanced it isn't something to be taken lightly...

Texas Wahine

on Feb 16, 2005

Hehe...I take Zoloft...I haven't killed anyone yet, but I'll get back to you when I do...

butterflytuddles

on Feb 16, 2005

Hehe...I take Zoloft...I haven't killed anyone yet, but I'll get back to you when I do...

thanks for that!

i take anti depressants to... efexor actually... but then i'm inbalanced anyway

Myrrander

on Feb 16, 2005

zoloft and effexor both have been restricted from use in children for a while in europe, we're finally doing some of the same stuff here

kingbee

on Feb 17, 2005

i'm gonna guess you somehow managed to remain oblivious to the widely reported continuing controversy surrounding what what one australian characterized as a 'manufactured epidemic' of adolescent depression, ocd and bipolar disease requiring treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (zoloft among them) which--tho not approved for use by adolescents--were coincidentally receiving glowing endorsements by prominent clinicians who turned out to have financial ties to the companies that make those very drugs.

or maybe you are aware more than 10 million prescriptions for these drugs were issued in 2003--in the us alone--for off-list use by kids (off-list use being a slick lil dodge the drug companies promote to get around fda regulations) but you arent concerned cuz aspirin and flintstones vitamins been berry berry good to you.

either way, i highly doubt the kid's defense lawyers never mentioned the report published in lancet (the british medical journal) once its researchers were provided with both the published (favorable) and unpublished (damning) studies done by the drug companies who make and sell zoloft and similar ssri meds. lancet concluded: "The story of research into selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use in childhood depression is one of confusion, manipulation and institutional failure. Although published evidence was inconsistent at best, use of SSRIs to treat childhood depression has been encouraged by pharmaceutical companies and clinicians worldwide."

10% of the kids used as subjects in double-blind tests had to be withdrawn from the studies because they exhibited profoundly negative responses...like becoming suicidal and violent.

you were clearly far too wrapped up in mindlessly indulging your prodigious capacity for outrage to waste time looking into the issues.

bakerstreet

on Feb 17, 2005

The earliest I was offered them was 18. Oddly, I wasn't even being treated, my girlfriend needed some help (read: friggin DERANGED), and as part of her therapy I was asked to come in (read: She lied constantly and they needed someone to tell them if she was trying to harm people and small animals for fun...)

Anyhoo, I watched untold numbers come and go while I was there. It was like an assembly line. They had about 5 "therapists", i.e. people with somthing like an AA in counseling, and one guy in white coat in a central office. People would be called, spend 15 minutes with the therapist, and move to the central room, spend less than 5 minutes, and be out the door with a prescription.

This isn't making people better. We understand that making crystal meth all day doesn't really make us better workers. So why can't we accept that propping up our emotions isn't healthy, either? It's just the same old drug culture, only administered permanently by a corporate system.

Fek 'em. When they told me I there was a strong chance I was "at the very least bi-polar" and referred me to the guy in the lab coat, I reminded them that I had been watching their bullshit treatment for a year and I knew exactlyy how much good it did.

So far, I haven't been on any killing sprees. Keep your fingers crossed

kingbee

on Feb 17, 2005

. When they told me I there was a strong chance I was "at the very least bi-polar" and referred me to the guy in the lab coat, I reminded them that I had been watching their bullshit treatment for a year and I knew exactlyy how much good it did.

So far, I haven't been on any killing sprees. Keep your fingers crossed

ya know--and i sincerely mean this as a compliment--even though i know you only from what you show here, i have a difficult time imagining your neighbors runnin down the usual litany to some tv reporter bout how you were the last person they woulda expected to go berserk with a bazooka since you never raised a fuss and always went along with the program.

bakerstreet

on Feb 17, 2005

"a know--and i sincerely mean this as a compliment--even though i know you only from what you show here, i have a difficult time imagining your neighbors runnin down the usual litany to some tv reporter bout how you were the last person they woulda expected to go berserk with a bazooka since you never raised a fuss and always went along with the program."

Hey... wait a minute. Do you mean they WOULD expect it?

Thanks, i get what you mean. I think my eccentricity makes me "me". Granted, some people need a lot more help, but honestly I don't think they get it in our current system. It is simply cheaper to dose someone than it is to offer them a real helping hand, regular counselling, etc.

Insurance companies shouldn't make this call, but since they end up paying, they feel they have the right to, I guess...

ParaTed2k

on Feb 17, 2005

In the immortal words of Jefferson Airplane...

"One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all"

Or do they??? ;~D

butterflytuddles

on Feb 17, 2005

Cypher : You know, I know what you're thinking, because right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here....Why, oh why, didn't I take the blue pill.

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