{"id":126104,"date":"2025-05-12T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T10:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=126104"},"modified":"2025-05-09T17:25:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T21:25:32","slug":"mental-health-awareness-month-tennessee-enacts-psychotropic-testing-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/mental-health-awareness-month-tennessee-enacts-psychotropic-testing-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Awareness Month – Tennessee Enacts Psychotropic Testing Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 12, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — A landmark law recently passed in Tennessee raises awareness about psychotropic drugs linked to potential violent behavior, marking a paradigm shift in advancing public safety and accountability for these prescriptions. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International<\/a>, a mental health industry watchdog, praised the regulations as timely, given that May is Mental Health Awareness Month.<\/p>\n

\"CCHR
Image Caption: \u201cWhen someone commits mass murder, the public has a right to know if mind-altering drugs played a role.\u201d \u2013 Sheila Matthews, Vice President of AbleChild.<\/em><\/p>\n

The new law mandates toxicology testing for psychotropic drugs in autopsies of certain deceased mass shooters. Sheila Matthews, Vice President of the parents\u2019 rights group, ABLECHILD, and Amy Miller, an advocate for pharmaceutical industry reform, helped draft the legislation, which also directs the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to study interactions between psychotropic drugs and other substances found in violent perpetrators.[1]<\/p>\n

Some 77 million Americans take psychotropic drugs, including over 6 million children and youths. While acknowledging that this does not mean all consumers could become violent, CCHR says that Tennessee, recognizing the need for rigorous oversight and accountability, will benefit consumer informed consent rights and increase public safety.<\/p>\n

Matthews commented on the nationwide\u2014and global\u2014effects it could create, calling it a \u201cblueprint for dismantling the wall of secrecy\u201d about the violent adverse effects of some psychotropics. \u201cWhen someone commits mass murder,\u201d Matthews continued, \u201cthe public has a right to know if mind-altering drugs played a role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law requires the county medical examiner to test a deceased perpetrator for the presence of any drugs, including prescription psychotropics, and must disclose the drug use to the University of Tennessee’s health science center and the Department of Health.<\/p>\n

CCHR says the law is a vital first step but should be expanded. It currently applies only if the perpetrator is deceased and four or more people are killed, with no requirement for testing or disclosure if the perpetrator survives. CCHR is urging other states to adopt similar laws with broader testing and public reporting to strengthen transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n

CCHR says the results of those tests could be filed with the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) Adverse Drug Reporting (ADR) system, which could flag the need for further investigations and studies. Already, the FDA has reports of at least 1,530 cases of homicide\/homicidal ideation recorded as linked to psychiatric drugs.[2]<\/p>\n

A 2010 study published in Public Library of Science ONE<\/em> analyzed the FDA\u2019s ADRs and identified 25 prescription psychiatric drugs disproportionately associated with violence. These included antidepressants, sedative\/hypnotics, and drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The cases of violence linked to these drugs ranged from homicide and physical assaults to homicidal ideation and violence-related symptoms.[3]<\/p>\n

In November 2019, The Violence Project, funded by the U.S. Justice Department, released the largest, most comprehensive database of mass shooters in the United States.[4] A 2021 analysis of the database by Voice of America, the state-owned news network of the US, revealed that 23% of the mass shooters had been on psychiatric drugs.[5] This was likely greatly underreported, as researchers did not have access to all of the perpetrators\u2019 toxicology and medical records, only whatever information was publicly available.[6]<\/p>\n

At least one antidepressant lists \u201chomicidal ideation\u201d as a side effect; a common stimulant may cause \u201csuicidal or homicidal tendencies,\u201d according to the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. A 2023 article warned that antipsychotics can sometimes cause violence, agitation, hostility, and impulsivity.[7] In 2024, medical and legal experts discussed the \u201coverwhelming evidence from clinical studies and from tragic events that antidepressants can cause homicide.\u201d[8]<\/p>\n

Such studies and now the Tennessee law have strengthened the need for a non-biomedical approach to helping people with mental health issues and to urgently shift away from forcing such treatments on individuals or coercing them to take them by not fully informing them that violent or hostile effects could be sourced to the treatment, says Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, headquartered in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

CCHR hopes the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), being held in Los Angeles during Mental Health Awareness Month, will formally support the Tennessee law and adopt the international call for an end to coercive treatment in mental health. Matthews calls for the mental health industry to end stigmatizing patients, blaming their mental health diagnosis instead of the powerful mind-altering drugs prescribed to them.[9]<\/p>\n

The group wants safety protection laws similar to that passed in Tennessee, but with even broader testing and reporting systems accountable to the public.<\/p>\n

Since 1989, CCHR<\/a>, which was established 56 years ago by the Church of Scientology and author and professor of psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, has collected evidence and case reports of violent acts where a perpetrator was taking or withdrawing from psychotropics. In 2018, it published a fully documented report, Psychiatric Drugs: Create Violence & Suicide\u2014School Shootings and Other Acts of Senseless Violence<\/em><\/a>, with more than 30 studies that link prescription psychotropics to hostility, mania, aggression, self-harm, and suicide.<\/p>\n

SOURCES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] \u201cABLECHILD: Tennessee Sets National Precedent with Passage of AbleChild Bill Requiring Psychotropic Drug Testing in Mass Shooter Cases,\u201d ABLECHILD, 30 Apr. 2025, https:\/\/www.thegatewaypundit.com\/2025\/04\/ablechild-tennessee-sets-national-precedent-passage-ablechild-bill\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[2] Psychiatric Drugs Create<\/em> Violence & Suicide<\/em>, CCHR International, 2017, p. 12, https:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/pdfs\/violence-report.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] Thomas J. Moore, et al.<\/em>, \u201cPrescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others,\u201d Public Library of Science ONE<\/em>, Vol. 5, lss. 12, Dec. 2010, https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3002271\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[4] The Violence Project Database of Mass Shootings in the United States, 1966\u20132019, https:\/\/www.theviolenceproject.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/TVP-Mass-Shooter-Database-Report-Final-compressed.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

[5] https:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/2023\/06\/13\/23-percent-mass-shooters-on-psychiatric-drugs\/<\/a>; Sharon Shahid and Megan Duzor, \u201cVOA SPECIAL REPORT: HISTORY OF MASS SHOOTERS,\u201d VOA News, 1 June 2021, https:\/\/projects.voanews.com\/mass-shootings\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[6] \u201cMass Shooter Database,\u201d The Violence Project, https:\/\/www.theviolenceproject.org\/mass-shooter-database\/<\/a>; \u201cMethodology,\u201d The Violence Project, https:\/\/www.theviolenceproject.org\/methodology\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[7] https:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/2024\/10\/11\/cchr-wants-increased-consumer-awareness-about-prescriptions-for-violence\/<\/a>; \u201cDetailed View: Safety Labeling Changes Approved By FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) \u2013 November 2005,\u201d FDA; AUSTRALIAN PRODUCT INFORMATION ASPEN DEXAMFETAMINE tablets, 26 Feb 2024, https:\/\/www.ebs.tga.gov.au\/ebs\/picmi\/picmirepository.nsf\/pdf?OpenAgent=&id=CP-2023-PI-02524-1&d=20250505172310101<\/a>; Alex Alikiotis \u201cThe Link Between Antipsychotics And Aggressive Behavior: Understanding The Potential Causes Of Violence,\u201d MedShun<\/em> 24 Dec. 2023<\/p>\n

[8] https:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/2024\/10\/11\/cchr-wants-increased-consumer-awareness-about-prescriptions-for-violence\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[9] https:\/\/www.thegatewaypundit.com\/2025\/04\/ablechild-tennessee-sets-national-precedent-passage-ablechild-bill\/<\/a><\/p>\n

MULTIMEDIA:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Image link for media: https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/25-0512-s2p-cchr-mham-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Image Caption: \u201cWhen someone commits mass murder, the public has a right to know if mind-altering drugs played a role.\u201d \u2013 Sheila Matthews, Vice President of AbleChild<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 12, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — A landmark law recently passed in Tennessee raises awareness about psychotropic drugs linked to potential violent behavior, marking a paradigm shift in advancing public safety and accountability for these prescriptions. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, a mental health industry watchdog, praised the regulations as timely, given that May is Mental Health Awareness Month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9788,"featured_media":126103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[608,12804,10,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion-news","category-ap","category-california-news","category-los-angeles-news","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":11670,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126104"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126110,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126104\/revisions\/126110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}