Source: Orange County Register (Ca) Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Pubdate: 5 June 1998 DRUGS AND VIOLENCE Kip Kinkel mowed down 22 of his classmates plus his parents in Oregon. He was taking Prozac and had a history of taking Ritalin. These last facts are mentioned by journalists as an odd bit of trivia. But they may very well be the key to solving the puzzle, much more than access to guns or exposure to violence. The hero who wrestled Kinkel down and stopped the mayhem was also into guns and exposed to violence, but his natural instinct was to risk his life to save others. Prozac, as well as certain other psychiatric drugs, are documented as causing violent behavior and suicidal thoughts in a small percentage of their users, even in people who have had no history of violence. Ritalin, which is put in the same category as opium, heroin, morphine and cocaine by the Drug Enforcement Administration, can cause suicidal depression and psychotic episodes during withdrawal. These drugs have the potential to remove whatever civilizing factor it is that keeps humans from stepping over the line into criminal behavior. - --- Checked-by: (trikydik)