FDA Forgot A Few ADHD Drug Related Deaths and Injuries

[Guest guest]

by Pringle

(Monday February 20 2006)

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/27099

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" ...the rapidly spreading addiction to these drugs all across

America, any warning by public health officials in 2006 is too

little too late. "

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The numbers cited by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for

possible attention deficit drug-related deaths and injuries

represent a gross understatement of statistics. The truth is that

these drugs are responsible for and endless stream of deaths and

injuries all over the country.

According to the latest investigation by the FDA, in the four year

period between 1999 and 2003, there were twenty-five deaths in

persons using Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) drugs,

19 of which were children. Officials also acknowledged that more

than 50 cases of cardiovascular problems had been reported,

including stoke, heart attack, hypertension, palpitations and

arrhythmia. There are many more documented adverse events caused by

these drugs and the FDA knows it.

For instance, on November 20, 1986, after being on Ritalin since the

third grade, fourteen-year-old Rod Mathews lured a classmate,

Ouillette, into a wooded area near his home in Canton,

Massachusetts, under the pretense of a plan to build a snow fort,

and beat him to death with a baseball bat.

Although he had no prior history of violence, Rod beat until

he died and just left the body in the woods. Rod took 2 friends to

see the body, and threatened them with the same fate if they told

anyone about the murder.

Shaun's parents reported him missing but his body was not found

until about 3 weeks later, when one of Rod's friends tipped off

police.

A month before the murder, Rod wrote about some of his bizarre

thoughts and actions and said:

" My problem is I like to do crazy things. I've been lighting fires

all over the place. Lately, I've been wanting to kill people I hate,

and I've been wanting to light houses on fire. What should I do? "

This 14-year-old child was tried as an adult, found guilty of second-

degree murder, and went on to become the youngest inmate in the

Massachusetts state prison system.

By all accounts, Shaun was a wonderful son and his mother, Jeanne

Quinn, missed him terribly. Jeanne told friends that when Rod killed

her son he killed her too.

So, the question remains, why isn't Shaun's name listed under

Ritalin-related deaths?

There is also no mention of the prescription drug-deaths of 3

members of the McCra family from Rochester, Massachusetts.

On October 9, 1993, 15-year-old Gerard McCra, Jr shot and killed his

mother, Merle, 36, his father, Gerald, 35, and his 11-year-old

sister, , after taking Ritalin for nine years since he was

six-years-old.

According to court documents and testimony at trial, Gerald told

authorities that he was upset because his parents threatened to kick

him out of the house.

On the day of the crime, Gerald said his father and sister were

about to leave in the family car, and he asked them to wait so that

he could go with them.

Gerald went back in the house, broke into his grandfather's room,

got a loaded gun and shot his mother in the back of the head and

then returned to the waiting car, and shot his father and sister in

the back of the head as well.

Next Gerald drove the car to an area behind the house and dragged

his mother's body into his sister's room and locked the door.

He attempted to clean up the bloody areas of the house, and then

showered and called a female friend and told her to come over to

visit. The two spent the night together in Gerald's room.

The next day, he drove the car up to the house, loaded his mother's

body in it, and drove car away and left it sit. Later that day,

police found the parked car with the 3 dead bodies abandoned along a

dirt road.

After police found the bodies, Gerald admitted to the killings. He

was convicted of 3 counts of first degree murder on October 23,

1995, and each carried a mandatory life sentence.

The FDA made no mention of the ADHD drug related death of little

Sherrice Iverson at the hearings. On May 25, 1997, an 18-year-old

high school senior, Strohmeyer, raped and murdered 7-year-old

Sherrice, in a Nevada casino. had been diagnosed with ADHD

and prescribed Dexedrine just days before the crime.

The former high school honor student from Long Beach, California,

sexually assaulted and then strangled Sherrice in a stall in the

women's bathroom at Primm Valley Casino on the Nevada-California

border. Security cameras picked up leaving the bathroom.

When police arrived at 's home and were waiting for a search

warrant, his mother gave them an empty Dexedrine bottle and a

suicide note her son had left that said:

" I am so sorry, I just pray that this is enough to finish me off.

Please Lord let me die. I'm sorry, mom, I'm sorry dad, heather, all

my friends and family. Forgive me for I have sinned. I'm sorry.

Please give these things (unidentified objects) to Agnes Lee. Tell

her I will always love her. "

is 's sister and Agnes Lee is a former girlfriend.

had taken 37 Dexedrine pills. Police took him to the hospital

where his stomach was pumped and according to police reports,

gave the officers a complete confession.

Moments before his trial was set to begin on September 8, 1998,

pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, and

murder. The plea agreement would send him to prison for life with no

chance of parole. Had he gone to trial, he could have gotten the

death penalty.

The Ritalin-related deaths of three young Kentucky girls,

Hadley, , and Kayce Steger are not listed in the FDA

report.

On December 1, 1997, 14-year-old Carneal, was on Ritalin,

when he started firing a gun during a prayer meeting at a high

school in West Paducah, Kentucky, killing , 17, Kayce, 15,

and 14-year-old , and wounding five other students, including

one who is paralyzed.

That morning, rode to school with his sister . He

wrapped the guns in a blanket and passed the bundle off as a school

project. A couple of days before the rampage, had stole the

guns from a friend's garage.

's sister witnessed the shootings and told police that

had she not seen 's face, she would not have recognized him

as her brother.

According to his friends, at the time of the shooting,

suffered from severe paranoia and unreasonable fears and believed

that his friends and family were plotting against him. Among his

fears were people hiding in the air vents in his home which caused

to cover the vents in the bathroom with towels every time he

took a shower.

He feared that people were beneath the floorboards waiting to cut

off his feet with a chainsaw and slept with knives under his

mattress in case he needed to fight off a burglar.

At the FDA hearings, nobody mentioned the Ritalin-related injuries

to Schaberg, 17, " Missy " , 15, Hard,

16, Craig Keene, 15, and Hollan Holm, 14, who were all wounded by

at the school that day.

pleaded guilty to the charges by reason of mental illness

and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of

parole for at least 25 years. Lucky for , Kentucky law

prohibits giving the death penalty to anyone under the age of 16.

The March 10, 1998, Ritalin-related deaths of Gerald and

lin of Huntsville, Alabama, are not noted in the FDA report,

and neither are the Ritalin-related injuries to their 3 children,

Sara, and lin

The lin's 17-year-old first-born son, was on the

prescribed drugs of Ritalin, Prozac, and Klonopin, an anti-

convulsant, when he killed his parents as they came home from work

and then attempted to murder his 12-year-old sister and two brothers

aged 9 and 6. 's 11-year-old sister Stacey, was not at home

at the time of the attacks.

A doctor maintained that that Jeff had ADHD, accompanied by

depression and prescribed the drug cocktail to supposedly treat his

condition.

A neighbor called the police after he found one of the children

wandering around outside in a daze, all bloody and crying.

Gerald and , were dead when the police arrived and the

wounded siblings were taken to the Huntsville Hospital. " The

children all had very serious head and face injuries from what

looked like an ax and some sort of large, blunt force object, "

hospital spokeswoman Terri Bryson told police.

Police reports noted that all five victims had massive head wounds,

slashes to their necks and faces, and blood-soaked clothes and that

Jeff was shirtless and covered with blood when arrested.

Police said Jeff bludgeoned his family members with a bloody,

hatchet found in the home that had a blade on one side and a hammer

on the other.

According to legal documents, Jeff told police that he had snorted

crushed Ritalin pills and had not slept for days. Police

investigator Chester McCutcheon told the judge in the case that Jeff

had described an out-of-body experience and hallucinations in which

he believed that horns were growing from his head.

Police reports said that prior to his arrest, Jeff lead police on a

high-speed car chase and that he spat, cursed and made obscene

gestures when police and news crews caught up with him after he

crashed into a fence, in a residential neighborhoods in southeast

Huntsville.

In the early stages of court proceedings, the press reported that a

quiet, docile lin seemed like a different youth than

the teen arrested on March 10, 1998. Police interviews with

classmates and neighbors turned up no leads as to what may have

triggered the murders.

In 1999, Jeff was found mentally incompetent to stand trial but a

couple years later, following treatment, it was determined that he

was able to stand trial. The defense entered a plea of not guilty by

reason of mental defect. Three days before the trial was set to

begin, Jeff pleaded guilty to killing his parents and attempting to

murder three siblings.

This young man who obviously experienced a severe adverse reaction

after being placed on a daily cocktail of 3 dangerous drugs, was

sentenced to 5 life terms in prison. His name should be included in

the list of people having adverse effects.

The names of Golden and should also be

listed in FDA records under ADHD drug-related adverse effects.

On March 24, 1998 in boro, Arkansas, 11-year-old Golden

and 14-year-old shot and killed one teacher, four

students, and wounded 10 others people. According to published

reports, the boys were on Ritalin.

Golden and staged a false fire alarm and then began

shooting students and teachers as they exited the building. An

Arkansas judge found the 2 children guilty of 5 counts of capital

murder and 10 counts of battery. The boys received the maximum

sentence possible under Arkansas juvenile laws: placement in a

juvenile facility until they turn 18, possibly until they turn 21,

if a facility is built for 18-21 year olds.

Young Kip Kinkel's name should be listed on the front page of FDA

reports on adverse drug reactions.

On May 20, 1998, Kip was only 14-years-old on the night that he

murdered both of his parents. When he got up the next morning, he

went to Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon and shot and

killed two students and wounded 22 more people.

After being diagnosed with dyslexia, Kip had been was placed on

Ritalin and was later prescribed Prozac as well.

On the day he killed his parents, Kip was arrested at school and

charged with possession of a firearm in a public building and

receiving a stolen weapon. According to Detective Al Warthen who

interviewed him, Kip was very upset and worried about what his

parents were going to think while waiting for his father Bill to

come to the station and get him.

According to Kip's confession, at about 3 that afternoon, his father

was sitting at the kitchen counter drinking coffee when Kip took a

22 rifle from his room, got ammunition from his father's room, and

shot his father once in the back of his head.

After that, Kip told police detectives, " I didn't know what to do so

I dragged him into the bathroom and then put a white sheet over

him. "

After killing his father, Kip said that he waited for his mother to

come home. According to his taped confession, when she drove in the

garage at about 6:30 pm, he told her that he loved her, and then

shot her twice in the back of the head, three times in the face and

one time through the heart. He then dragged her body across the

garage floor and covered her with a sheet.

After killing his parents, Kip apparently wrote a note that police

found on the coffee table in the family living room that said:

" I have just killed my parents! I don't know what is happening. I

love my mom and dad so much. I just got two felonies on my record.

My parents can't take that! It would destroy them. The embarrassment

would be too much for them. They couldn't live with themselves. I'm

so sorry. I am a horrible son. I wish I had been aborted. I destroy

everything I touch. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I didn't deserve

them. They were wonderful people. It's not their fault or the fault

of any person, organization, or television show. My head just

doesn't work right. God damn these VOICES inside my head. I want to

die. I want to be gone. But I have to kill people. I don't know why.

I am so sorry! Why did God do this to me. I have never been happy. I

wish I was happy. I wish I made my mother proud. I am nothing! I

tried so hard to find happiness. But you know me I hate everything.

I have no other choice. What have I become? I am so sorry "

The next morning, Kip filled his backpack with ammunition and

carried 3 guns. He taped a hunting knife to his leg, wore a long

trenchcoat to conceal the weapons, and drove his mother's car to

school.

Security cameras showed him walking down the hall towards the school

cafeteria when he shot Ben and Atteberry, before

entering the cafeteria and firing off what remained of the 50 round

clip of a 22 caliber semiautomatic and one round from a handgun. By

the time five classmates wrestled Kip to floor, 2 students were dead

and 25 others were injured.

Theresa Miltonberger, was the most severely injured student to

survive and spent 65 days in the hospital. She has bullet fragments

permanently lodged in her brain causing cognitive and memory

impairment.

Kip pled guilty to four counts of murder and 26 counts of attempted

murder even though he had no idea of what caused him to commit the

crimes.

On November 2, 1999, after a 6-day hearing that included testimony

by psychiatrists, a statement by Kip's sister's asking for leniency,

and statements by victims, this 14-year-old children who was placed

on a daily cocktail of dangerous drugs through no fault of his own,

was sentenced to 111 years in prison, without the possibility of

parole.

In requesting leniency, Kip's sister, explained to the judge

how she had tried to prepare Kip for when he would have to listen to

statements from victims and told him to " just tune out ... to a safe

place in his memory, and not listen to the victims when they talk,

because they are angry and going to say things they really don't

mean. "

relayed how Kip stopped her and said, " No, I owe it to them

to listen. "

The name of every student harmed at the school that day, should

appear in the FDA report under drug-related adverse events.

The Adderall-related death of an infant in Grand Forks, North Dakota

was not listed in the report either. On January 30, 1999, Ron Ehlis

killed his 5-week-old daughter Tyra, ten days after his doctor wrote

him a prescription for Adderall.

As a child, Ron was put on Ritalin and when he went to see a

psychiatrist at age 26, because he was having a hard time with his

college studies, without conducting any type of tests, the doctor

prescribed Adderall.

After a few days, he did as the doctor instructed and doubled the

dose, and Ron's nightmare began.

He described delusions, hallucinations, and out-of-body experiences,

including talking with God and his dead grandfather after he upped

the dose. Believing to be acting under God's orders, Ron shot his

& #64257;ve-week-old daughter and then shot himself in the stomach.

The baby did not survive.

Ron was charged with murder, but the charges were dismissed after

several doctors testi & #64257;d that he suffered from an amphetamine-

induced psychotic disorder, caused by the Adderall and did not have

the necessary criminal responsibility. Angie Moreno, the baby's

mother, testi & #64257;d that Ron did not act like himself from the

& #64257;st day he took the Adderall.

The name Tyra Ehlis should definitely be listed under Adderall-

related death.

was 15-years-old and on Ritalin, on April 16, 1999,

when he took a 12-gauge shotgun to his high school in Notus, Idaho,

and held the entire school hostage for about 20 minutes. fired

two shotgun rounds, wounding one student, and narrowly missing other

classmates and teachers. Prior to that fateful day, was best

noticed in his position of outfielder on the school baseball team.

There was nothing mentioned at the FDA hearings about 's

Ritalin-related adverse event.

's name is nowhere to be found either.

In 1999, Jr, or TJ to his friends, was a 15-year-old

sophomore on Ritalin when he brought a rifle to Heritage High School

in Conyers, Georgia on May 20, and shot six students. The event

happened one month to the day after the Columbine school massacre.

His classmates said TJ had a dazed expression on his face as he

began firing the gun. He was known to be a good shot, but did not

seem to be aiming at people. If he was trying to imitate the

Columbine shooters, TJ was apparently a bad actor.

The press noted that he had access to his stepfather's high-caliber

guns but brought a low-powered rifle to the school.

The shooting ended quickly and TJ backed out the door and dropped

the rifle. He then kneeled on ground, pulled a 357 magnum out of his

bookbag, and put the barrel of the gun in his mouth.

The assistant principal, Cecil Brinkley reportedly calmed TJ, by

saying: " It's going to be all right, put it down. "

TJ removed the gun from his mouth and collapsed in Mr Brinkley's

arms sobbing and said: " Oh, my God, I'm so scared. "

TJ's classmates expressed total disbelief over his behavior. " He'd

be the last person I'd think would do something like this, "

classmate told Time Magazine. " He was normal. Just like

me, " said.

At the time, the press described TJ as a quiet, teen who was

literally a Boy Scout, who attended church regularly and played

baseball on a county league.

School Superintendent, Peccia, told reporters that school

records contained no warning signs. " The disciplinary record would

not indicate he had been any significant trouble, " Peccia said. " We

had no reason to suspect this student at all. "

In addition to the injured that were shot, there were 2 other very

lucky students that day. When the shooting began, one girl held a

book to her chest and later discovered that a bullet had penetrated

the book to page 162. Another girl found bullet fragments in her

bookbag the next day but the spiral binding of a notebook had

stopped the bullet.

This never-before violent, Ritalin-drugged child, was sentenced to

40 years in a Georgia State Prison, where at 17, he attempted

suicide by swallowing antidepressants.

The name of every student injured by TJ at the school that day

should be listed in FDA records under adverse drug events.

The death of young Curry in Spokane, Washington is also not

mentioned in the FDA report.

In late September 1999, was a happy, 8-year-old third grader

as she sat on her mother, Sharon's lap in the passenger seat of her

mother's Mustang convertible, discussing what she wanted to wear for

Halloween.

After she told her mother that she wanted a princess costume, Sharon

who was on Adderall at the time, stabbed 5 times and then

stabbed herself. A short time later a policeman found Sharon and

still sitting in car in the driveway, all covered in blood.

The mother lived, but did not.

When the officer asked Sharon what happened, she asked him for a

cigarette.

Sharon was found not guilty of all charges, by reason of insanity

brought on by the Adderall. Doctors for the state and the defense

agreed that she was insane when she killed and that her

mental state was so acute that she could not distinguish between

right and wrong.

Sharon sued her doctor alleging he prescribed an excessive dose of

Adderall and caused her to kill her daughter. The lawsuit was

settled out of court, but neither side would reveal the details.

The death of three-year-old toddler, iel Branson, is also not

mentioned in the FDA report.

On March 18, 2000, Nat's mother Dawn was driving in sdale,

Arizona with her son in the car when she suffered a psychotic

episode while on Adderall.

According to court documents, Dawn heard a voice saying: " Let go of

the steering wheel and gas. God will drive the car don't you trust

him? "

She did as the voice said, and a car accident followed which

resulted in her son's death and serious injuries to Dawn. Prior to

being prescribed Adderall, she had never been psychotic and since

she quit taking the drug, there have been no further psychotic

episodes.

The FDA did not include the Adderall-related death of Errol Beumel,

Sr in the report.

On the evening of April 25, 2003, Errol Beumel Sr and his wife,

Janet, went to their son, Errol Jr's home near Lafayette, Indiana,

to check on Jr because the father and son had argued the night

before.

According to court testimony, Errol Jr was on Adderall when he met

his father at the door with a gun and began shooting, while Errol Sr

fled, and eventually collapsed in a ditch across the road.

The son then reloaded the gun, got a flashlight and went and shot

his father several more times as he lay bleeding in the ditch, while

his mother watched in horror.

At the criminal trial, Dr Pless, a forensic pathologist from

Indiana University, testified that Beumel Sr was shot 10 times. Dr

Pless testified that seven of the most severe injuries were to the

chest and abdomen and that one bullet entered his skull.

Errol's Jr's sister, Carly, testified that she believed her

brother's addiction to Adderall caused him to develop a mental

illness in the 6 months leading up to the murder. " I watched him

growing up by my side in a good home and a good family, and he was a

good boy, " she said. " It was complete chaos in our lives for six

months before this event. "

At the trial, two court-appointed psychiatrists testified that Errol

Jr was insane and unable to appreciate right from wrong at the time

of the murder. Dr Berger identified the problem as drug-

induced psychosis brought on by Adderall.

Errol Jr testified at the trial and said that spirits convinced him

that his father was the devil and that he needed to be killed.

The jury took less than two hours to reject the insanity defense and

find him guilty of murder and the judge imposed the maximum 70-year

prison sentence allowed.

A formal statement issued by Errol Jr's mother and two sisters

said: " On behalf of Janet, a and Carly Beumel, we were surprised

and deeply saddened that Errol did not receive guilty but mentally

ill so that he could have the medical care he needs. It is clear to

us that this is necessary, and in the face of this tragedy, we still

love him. "

At the February 10, 2006 hearing, the FDA advisory panel recommended

black box warning labels for ADHD drugs and said that a medication

guide should be provided to parents and patients when the drugs are

prescribed.

In light of the tragedies above, and the rapidly spreading addiction

to these drugs all across America, any warning by public health

officials in 2006 is too little too late.