Indianapolis Star Reports: "Eli Lilly Doing Spin Control After News Oregon Shooter Took Prozac"
(Ed. note: This story has not had wide coverage. It is interesting that the Star – controlled by Dan Quail’s family – would report it this way. The Lily Foundation is a major benefactor of the state of Indiana, in part thanks to Prozac. The prohibitionists will not be saying a lot about this, but consider this story in the context of the medical marijuana debate.Prozac and marijuana have several things in common. Both are used by such large numbers of people to deal with very real problems that it is inevitable that some of those people are going to have difficulties -- that may or may not be related to the use of the substances. However, while by any measure marijuana is much the safer of the two, the sellers of Prozac get rich, while the users of medial marijuana can get arrested. )
The Indianapolis Star
stareditor@starnews.com
May 23, 1998
Courtenay Edelhart, staff writer
LILLY DOING SPIN CONTROL AFTER NEWS OREGON SHOOTER TOOK PROZAC
Prozac maker Eli Lilly and Co. reiterated its stance that the antidepressant does not increase violent tendencies, following a Springfield, Ore., shooting involving a 15-year-old boy who reportedly had been taking the drug.
Lilly insisted there was no connection between the boy’s reputed use of Prozac and his deadly rampage at Thurston High School Thursday morning.
Kipland Kinkel allegedly opened fire on a crowded cafeteria, killing two classmates and critically wounding others before a fellow student tackled him. Later, the bodies of Kinkel’s parents were found at his home.
"There is abundant evidence about Prozac showing no link to any sort of violent behavior," Lilly spokesman Jeff Newton said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded as much in a 1991 report on antidepressants, suicide and violence, Newton said. "In fact, recent studies have shown Prozac actually decreases violent thoughts," he said.
Prozac has been hailed as a wonder drug in the fight against depression, but critics say it provokes violence in some patients. In scores of court cases raising that issue, Lilly has successfully argued that when violence occures, it is a symptom of the illness rather than the medication prescribed to treat it.
This is the second round of unwanted publicity for Prozac in less than a year. Lilly also found itself doing damage control after reports surfaced that traces of Prozac were found in the body of the driver of the crash that killed Princess Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed.
Lilly also had been hurt by negative publicity related to the 1989 shooting rampage in Louisville, Ky., by Joseph Wesbecker, who had used Prozac. Wesbecker injured 12 people and killed nine others, including himself. The victims’ families sued Lilly, and a jury found Prozac wasn’t responsible.
Later, the judge claimed the parties had reached a secret settlement.
Another judge who had inherited the case closed it early this year, saying there were no more issues to resolve.