More concerning Eric Harris drugs,
denverpost.com
Columbine lawsuit cites use of drug
By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer
Friday, March 08, 2002 - A year before the Columbine shootings, killer Eric Harris was developing the kind of compulsive thinking that led to the rampage, according to the head of a national psychiatric center.
Harris had been diagnosed with mild depression in February 1998. Two months later, when Harris was getting worse, thinking compulsively and becoming more depressed, he was prescribed an anti-depressant called Luvox, Dr. Peter Breggin said in federal court papers.
Breggin is director of the Maryland-based Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. His findings were based on Harris' medical and psychiatric records.
His report is part of a lawsuit filed by the families of Columbine victims against Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. Solvay makes Luvox, and the families allege that the drug made Harris manic and psychotic, leading to his "homicidal and suicidal ideation."
Solvay denies the allegations and some physicians have said there is no evidence connecting drugs such as Luvox to violent behavior changes.
Harris apparently was taking Luvox at the time of the April 20, 1999, massacre, which left 15 people dead. An autopsy found traces of it in his system.
Five days before the massacre, the Marines Corps rejected Harris for medical reasons. While the Marines never provided details of the rejection, treatment with a psychiatric medication would have disqualified him.
Breggin said in his report that he believes Luvox triggered the rampage. "Absent persistent exposure to Luvox, Eric Harris would probably not have committed violence and suicide."
Breggin said that records show that Harris had his Luvox prescription filled 10 times between April 25, 1998, and March 13, 1999, and that three-and-a-half months before the rampage, the dose was increased.
Breggin noted that an increase in medication is often found within a few weeks or months prior to a worsening of adverse psychiatric reactions to drugs.
Meantime, on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Clarence A. Brimmer ruled that videotapes, audio tapes and writings of Harris and fellow Columbine killer Dylan Klebold, as well as a 911 tape, are to be put in the evidence room of the federal courthouse in Denver and are not to be copied.
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