In light of expert discussions, clinical studies, and drug regulatory agency warnings, consumers must be informed that a percentage of those taking psychotropic drugs may experience violent, even homicidal and suicidal behavior.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
October 11, 2024

A recent panel of medical and legal experts discussed the “overwhelming evidence from clinical studies and from tragic events that antidepressants can cause homicide,”[1] igniting further demands for stronger consumer warnings. The panel webinar discussion was led by Prof. David Healy, a UK psychopharmacology expert and psychiatrist, U.S. patients’ rights attorney, Jim Gottstein and Christopher Lane, Ph.D., who noted that “Judges and prosecutors both acknowledge this to be true.”

CCHR, independent of these experts, says that pharmaceutical companies and prescribers have a greater duty to warn consumers about risks such as violent or suicidal thoughts. While not all patients will experience violent behavior, the evidence shows a percentage will. Prescribers must inform patients of these risks or be held accountable for the consequences of harmful actions resulting from their failure to do so.

In 2012, a French psychiatrist was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence after her patient, Joel Gaillard, killed a man with an axe. A court ruled Dr. Daniele Canarelli had committed a “grave error” for failing to recognize her patient posed a threat to the public.[2]

Gaillard had been Canarelli’s patient for nearly four years and had been repeatedly and mandatorily hospitalized, where, arguably, he was “medicated.” There was “an escalation of acts of aggression, of increasing severity” perpetrated by the patient while he was in treatment. Under the French penal code, when a psychiatrist’s patient harms someone, “cases of recklessness, negligence or breach of duty in terms of providing adequate care or safety,” may be established where “the perpetrator [doctor] has not completed the normal due diligence required.”[3]

Such due diligence must include ensuring patients fully understand the potential for violent and/or suicidal behavior as part of the informed consent process. This is particularly crucial when there is no prior history of aggression, as prescribers are obligated to be aware of drug-induced homicidal and suicidal thoughts, which can serve as precursors to violent acts or suicide.

Even bar tenders serving an intoxicated patron can be held legally liable if the person causes damage. Many states have enacted laws allowing for the prosecution and civil suits against establishments that serve alcohol to visibly intoxicated individuals or minors. These laws are often referred to as “Dram Shop” laws, which hold those serving alcohol accountable for the actions of the intoxicated individuals they serve.[4]

Now consider prescribers who fail to warn patients about the well-documented violent and suicidal side effects of certain drugs, and the patient goes on to commit a violent crime. The responsibility should be no less clear.

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System has at least 1,530 cases of homicide/homicidal ideation recorded as linked to psychiatric drugs. However, the FDA admits that only 1-10 percent of drug side effects are reported to its MedWatch program. Taking a moderate five percent, then, the potential number of reported incidents could be as high as 30,620.[5]

A 2017 BMJ study, “Antidepressants and murder: case not closed,” noted: “The FDA admitted in 2007 that SSRIs can cause madness at all ages and that the drugs are very dangerous; otherwise daily monitoring wouldn’t be needed.” It also stated, “Families and caregivers of patients should be advised to look for the emergence of such symptoms on a day-to-day basis, since changes may be abrupt….All patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, and unusual changes in behavior….The following symptoms, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania, have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants.”[6]

Professor Peter C. Gøtzsche, a renowned international researcher, reviewed 64,381 pages of clinical study reports (70 trials) from the European Medicines Agency, showing “for the first time that SSRIs in comparison with placebo increase aggression in children and adolescents, odds ratio 2.79 to 4.81. This is an important finding considering the many school shootings where the killers were on SSRIs.”[7]

In a systematic review of placebo-controlled trials in adult healthy volunteers, he noted research also showed that antidepressants double the occurrence of events that the FDA has defined as possible precursors to suicide and violence, with an odds ratio of 1.85 to 3.08.[8]

Once hailed as miracle pills, antidepressants now carry black box warnings for suicide risk in certain age groups. They are also increasingly regarded as ineffective for treating depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with an estimated 40%–60% of individuals with PTSD not responding to SSRI antidepressants. Psychedelics like MDMA and psilocybin are being offered as alternatives, despite a survey of over 2,300 people who used psilocybin for “self-exploration,” where 11% reported lasting negative effects, including mood fluctuations and depressive symptoms, weeks or even months after use.[9]

In September 2024, disgraced psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman, former president of the American Psychiatric Association, wrote an article titled “Psychiatry’s Risky Gamble on Recreational Drugs” in Psychiatric Times. Lieberman, who faced controversy and suspension from Columbia University over his 2022

racist remarks about a model’s skin color, erroneously claimed that psychiatry had “established its scientific bona fides and returned to the mainstream of medicine”—despite the field’s own admission that it neither knows the causes of mental disorders nor has cures. He then expressed concern about psychiatry’s foray into psychedelics, warning that failure in this area “could cause serious damage to the credibility of psychiatric medicine.”

He added, “This would not be the first time that psychiatry courted reputational disaster,” referencing the widespread use of psychedelics in the 1960s. By the mid-1960s, according to Lieberman, over 50,000 U.S. patients had been treated with Delysid (the trade name for LSD), and more than 1,000 scientific papers and books had been published on the subject.[10] LSD was banned in 1968.[11]

In truth, Lieberman appears more worried about the flawed research that led the FDA to reject a recent application for the hallucinogen MDMA (Ecstasy) to be used to treat PTSD. Yet, this hasn’t dampened his “enthusiasm about the potential salutary value of psychedelics,” as he calls it. Rather, he argues, “I believe that we first must enlarge our knowledge of how these work….”

However, Lieberman’s concerns seem more likely driven by self-interest. He founded and serves as president of his own non-profit research company, ARETE Health, Well-Being and Human Potential, which claims to “improve access to evidence based state of the art mental health care,” largely through psychiatric research.[12] While the company’s website doesn’t explicitly mention psychedelics, part of its agenda includes treatments for the military, focusing on “brain health to alleviate and prevent the consequences of…PTSD, depression, psychosis, substance abuse, suicide and domestic violence….” The website says the company depends on the “availability of funds in the form of site also notes that the company relies on “contributions from private donors or gifts or grants from corporations or foundations.”[13] According to its 2023 IRS Form 990, ARETE reported only $37,600 in revenue, with expenses totaling $58,200, leaving a deficit of over $20,000. The only listed employees and officers are Lieberman and Amy Wachs, the secretary—suggesting the company is in need of more business.[14]

Give psychiatry half the chance and we’ll see psychedelics unleashed as another arsenal of violence-inducing drugs on our community.

In October 2020, Vice’s article, “Killer High: Exploring the Phenomenon of LSD-Fuelled Murder,” detailed how during the prior three years, there were at least 11 reported incidents of somebody killing another person while high on LSD. “Anecdotally, most of the offenders seemed like ordinary, level headed people before taking the drug,” according to the article.[15]

In October 2018, a 22-year-old in Florida took acid with his girlfriend and ended up stabbing her father to death. In March 2019, a teenager in Australia ingested two tabs of LSD and killed an 82-year-old stranger by stomping on his head. A month later, a man in New York State took acid and carried his eight-month-old daughter through a cemetery in the middle of the night, throwing her into a waist-deep pond that he thought was “the fountain of youth”.[16]

So-called “Hallucinogenic persistent perception disorder,” or HPPD, is triggered by the use of psychedelic drugs. ABC News in Australia reported this year: “With the use of illegal drugs on the rise and the emergence of psychedelics in the treatment of mental health disorders, there are calls for greater awareness and more research into the condition.”[17]

Even ketamine, the drug that killed Friends actor, Matthew Perry, and prescribed to treat depression, anxiety and PTSD (without FDA approval) lists side effects such as “hallucination, abnormal dreams, nightmare, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior.”[18] MDMA is associated with a broad array of crimes and transgressions. Users also report anxiety and irritability, impulsiveness, paranoia, and mood changes that heighten aggression.[19]

CCHR cites other reports and drug regulatory agency warnings, which prescribers should be aware of:

• 2021: A common stimulant,dexamfetamine (also known as dextroamphetamine),prescribed to children and teens carries an Australian drug regulatory agency warning of homicidal thoughts. An overdose may cause “suicidal or homicidal tendencies,” the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) warns. The drug is commonly abused, which can lead to overdose.[20]

• November 2005: The FDA added “homicidal ideation” as a side effect of the antidepressant Effexor XR (venlafaxine extended release).[21]

• 2023: Antipsychotics are associated with increased aggression and violent behavior. According to a December 2023 article, “The Link Between Antipsychotics And Aggressive Behavior: Understanding The Potential Causes Of Violence,”“Understanding why antipsychotics can sometimes cause violence is crucial for ensuring the safety and well-being of those who rely on these drugs, as well as for developing more effective treatment strategies that minimize these risks.” High-risk side effects include agitation, hostility, and impulsivity.[22]

All of this should be a wake-up call for a society on the threshold of having more psychotropic drugs put on the market when already the existing ones have the potential to wreak violent havoc, cause murderous rages resulting in mass shootings, and suicide. Psychedelics have the potential to create even more. There needs to be greater drug-agency regulatory warnings about these adverse effects, and far more discussions of the kind that Healy, Gottstein, and Lee have provided.  

There must also be accountability for those prescribing the drugs when they’ve been warned of the risks, and such prescriptions lead to the commission of a crime.

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[1] Antidepressants and Homicide: Automatism Spectrum Disorders Tickets, Oct 5, 2024, Eventbrite, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/antidepressants-and-homicide-automatism-spectrum-disorders-tickets-1020994190107; https://www.madintheuk.com/2024/09/october-5th-mia-panel-on-antidepressants-and-homicide-automatism-spectrum-disorders/

[2] https://www.foxnews.com/world/french-psychiatrist-sentenced-to-prison-after-patient-commits-murder

[3] “Psychiatric Liability: A French Psychiatrist Sentenced After a Murder Committed by Her Patient,” Psychiatric Times, 10 Apr. 2013, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychiatric-liability-french-psychiatrist-sentenced-after-murder-committed-her-patient

[4] https://alcohol.org/laws/over-serving/

[5] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/12/09/common-stimulant-prescribed-to-children-and-teens-has-homicidal-warning/; Psychiatric Drugs Create Violence & Suicide, CCHR International, 2017, p. 12, https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/violence-report.pdf

[6] “Antidepressants and murder: case not closed,”BMJ, Aug. 2017, https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3697

[7] “Antidepressants and murder: case not closed,”BMJ, Aug. 2017, https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3697

[8] “Antidepressants and murder: case not closed,”BMJ, Aug. 2017, https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3697

[9] https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/06/psychedelics-as-medicine; https://yourhealthmagazine.net/article/mental-health/psychedelics-an-alternative-to-antidepressants/

[10] Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD Nico Warren, “Psychiatry’s Risky Gamble on Recreational Drugs: The Royal Road to the Unconscious or Down a Pharmacologic Garden Path,” Psychiatric Times, 12 Sept. 2024, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychiatrys-risky-gamble-on-recreational-drugs-the-royal-road-to-the-unconscious-or-down-a-pharmacologic-garden-path

[11] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/08/26/replacing-prozac-with-lsd-is-like-switching-seats-on-the-titanic/

[12] https://aretehumanpotential.org/

[13] https://aretehumanpotential.org/about/

[14] https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/920375097

[15]Gavin Butler, “Killer High: Exploring the Phenomenon of LSD-Fuelled Murder,” VICE, 25 Oct. 2020, https://www.vice.com/en/article/acid-lsd-fuelled-murder-homicide/

[16]Gavin Butler, “Killer High: Exploring the Phenomenon of LSD-Fuelled Murder,” VICE, 25 Oct. 2020, https://www.vice.com/en/article/acid-lsd-fuelled-murder-homicide/

[17] Fiona Blackwood, “HPPD, the drug-induced disorder which can be brought on by psychedelic substances,” ABC News, 29 March 2024, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-30/research-into-hallucinogenic-persistent-perception-disorder-hppd/103641192

[18] https://www.mindbloom.com/2; https://www.drugs.com/sfx/ketamine-side-effects.html

[19] Michael G. Vaughn, “Crime and Violence among MDMA Users in the United States,” AIMS Public Health, 18 Mar. 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5690370/

[20] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/12/09/common-stimulant-prescribed-to-children-and-teens-has-homicidal-warning/, AUSTRALIAN PRODUCT INFORMATION ASPEN DEXAMFETAMINE (dexamfetamine sulfate) tablets, 15 Oct. 2021

[21] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/12/09/common-stimulant-prescribed-to-children-and-teens-has-homicidal-warning/; Psychiatric Drugs Create Violence & Suicide, CCHR International, 2017, p. 12, https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/violence-report.pdf, citing “Detailed View: Safety Labeling Changes Approved By FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) – November 2005

[22] Alex Alikiotis “The Link Between Antipsychotics And Aggressive Behavior: Understanding The Potential Causes Of Violence,” MedShun 24 Dec. 2023, https://medshun.com/article/why-do-antipsychotics-cause-violence