Prosac, an SSRI antidepressant drug, was once hailed a 'wonder drug', a 'magic bullet', the solution to the problem of depression. Decades later it is still being prescribed, regardless of the horrific 'side effects' it is now known to cause (not to mention its limited ability to treat depression). In its praise one American psychiatrist, Peter Kramer, said in his 1993 book 'Listening to Prozac' that the drug could make even people without depression “better than well”. The mainstream media, as usual, shared this pharmaceutical enthusiasm, and the sales of antidepressant drugs climbed astronomically; and been steadily increased since that time.
Joseph Wesbecker, from Louisville, Kentucky, USA was prescribed Prozac in 1989, and after taking the drug for about month, shot dead 8 work colleagues, wounded 12 others. and then killed himself. Survivors of the massacre, and relatives of the dead, took Ely Lilly, the drug manufacturer, to court. It was then, and is now, one of countless of mass killings in the USA. So in the early 1990's Dr Breggin was asked to evaluate the scientific basis for the claim that Prozac was causing violence and suicide, and claims the company had been negligent in the development and marketing of Prozac.
Eli Lilly won the case, was exonerated, and absolved of any blame for murders by the jury, which decided that the evaluation and testimony of Dr Breggin had not proven that Prozac was at fault. The judge suspected at the time that the trial had been rigged, and that Eli Willey had withheld damaging evidence from the court. Dr Breggin described this situation in his book, 'Medication Madness', published in 2009. Apparently, for many years after the trial, both plaintiffs and attorneys remained unaware of some the documents Breggin had evaluated. Then, in 2004, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) were sent the documents, anonymously, and they published an article about them.
Even so, it took longer (some 30 years in total) for the full truth to come out. Eli Lilly had secretly paid plaintiffs a total of $20 million to conceal damaging evidence that the company had concealed vital evidence that would have, if made public at the trial, damaged the reputation (and thus the sales) of the drug. The judge and jury knew nothing about this payment.
What also became clear was that Eli Lilly had, just previous to this trial, pleaded guilty to 25 counts of failure to report adverse reactions to another of its drugs, Oraflex. They feared that the Prozac jury would be more inclined to rule against them if this was known - so they settled out of court to prevent the court from hearing about it. It seems that Eli Lilly has a track record of concealing damning truths about their drugs.
The Judge, John Potter, had suspected that Eli Lilly had bribed both the plaintiffs and their lawyers before the jury verdict. He uncovered evidence of bribery, and fought Eli Lilly for several years after the trial but was unable to obtain proof of the Prozac payoff. So the company succeeded in keeping its criminal action from public view, and were able to continue selling a drug (and have been selling it to this day).
All this information has been gleaned from a variety of sources
- What your doctor might not know about Psychiatric Drug Facts
- Prozac maker Eli Lilly subverted mass murder trial
- Eli Lilly paid $20 million in hush money over Prozac mass shooting lawsuit
Eli LIlly's victory also sent a powerful message to lawyers and plaintiffs about the odds of winning judgments against powerful drug companies. There seemed little prospect of proving that Prozac was a grave danger.
It is also known now that the original FDA examiner had refused to accept Prozac because he knew that it caused aggression and violence. However, the drug was approved by the regulator, Prozac came to market, and has stayed there ever since. So much for the robustness of the drug regulation system! As Keith Scott-Mumby has stated (in his book, "Psychiatry without Drugs", if Eli Lilly had lost the case it could be the end of the a marvellous gravy train for the industry, stating that 1 in 5 USA citizens are on some form of psychiatric medication.
"The drug ... was 'exonerated' and now it’s difficult to
get the bent psychiatric profession to tolerate the idea that their
stupid drugs are causing mass murders. Prozac and other SSRIs KILL
people."
Yet the dishonesty, corruption and fraud was not just the mean saving Prozac's reputation. It also meant the link between Prozac, other subsequent SSRI, antipsychotic drugs, and violence also failed to be highlighted. Wesbecker was crazy, that's why he committed the murders. It had nothing to do with the drugs. Yet
Wesbecker was not known to have murderous or suicidal tendencies prior to taking Prozac. And he was not the last mass killer on SSRI antidepressants. Since that time hundreds of mass shooters have been done by individuals on psychiatric drugs.
Indeed the situation within the conventional medical establishment is now ever worse. As Mumby says, the call is now for more drugs, to drug
more 'crazy', patients who psychiatry believe might do harm, and have 'tendency to violence'. They are then put on psychiatric drugs, drugs with 'violence' as a well known side effect, clearly listed on Patient Information Leaflets.
Drugs used to 'treat' a problem - that actually cause the problem.
The pharmaceutical industry is dishonest, corrupt and fraudulent. It gets away with it because it is rich, influential and powerful. And they spend their wealth on ensuring we do not need to hear about the harm they cause to patients, and profit from harming patients, and get richer, more influential and powerful.
It is a vicious circle that can only be broken when we patients put an end to it - by saying 'No' to pharmaceutical medicine.
