What causes extreme violence?
A reader asks about an epidemic of extreme violence among youth and what might be some of the causes of this kind of violence.
The cause of extreme violence is almost always early-stage alcohol or other-drug addiction.
I discussed this issue in the May edition of my online www.AddictionReport.com. In the top story, on mass murderer Cho, I used columnist Bob Unruh’s misplaced blame on anti-depressants as a classic example of failing to identify the source the problem. I wrote: “he misses the boat in omitting the fact that of 20 school shooters listed in his article, at least eight were heavy alcohol users (i.e., alcoholics–and not mentioned by him) or on Xanax or Valium (alcohol in pill form for the alcoholic). He mentions that another three were on Ritalin, a form of speed used by many addicts including actress Judy Garland, as if it were just another anti-depressant. A 12th was described as being on “a variety of prescriptions” and at least seven more were easily old enough to be using alcohol.”
I continued:
“Unruh completely ignores alcohol as a precipitator of violence in several very obvious cases. He writes, “Kip Kinkel, a 15-year-old of Springfield, Ore., in 1998 murdered his parents and proceeded to his high school where he went on a rampage killing two students and wounding 22 others. Kinkel had been prescribed both Prozac and Ritalin.” However, among Kinkel’s ramblings, we find a tell-all passage unmentioned by Unruh: “Today of all days, I ask her to help me. I was shot down. I feel like my heart has been ripped open and ripped apart. Right now, I’m drunk, so I don’t know what the hell is happening to me.” Bear in mind that due to potentiation, a small dose of any of two or more psychotropic drugs, including Ritalin and alcohol, is all that’s needed for one heck of a high.”
If this piques your curiosity, please see the rest of the article at http://www.preventragedy.com/pages/TAR/029.aprmay07.html