{"id":130457,"date":"2025-10-27T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=130457"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:49:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:49:33","slug":"cchr-warns-disinformation-undermines-psychiatric-drug-death-toxicology-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/cchr-warns-disinformation-undermines-psychiatric-drug-death-toxicology-reporting\/","title":{"rendered":"CCHR Warns Disinformation Undermines Psychiatric Drug Death Toxicology Reporting"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Oct. 27, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR)<\/a>, a 50-year mental-health industry watchdog, is urging legislators to ensure that policy decisions are grounded in evidence\u2014not in misinformation from vested interests. The appeal follows testimony before the Wyoming Joint Labor, Health & Social Services Committee, which recently considered but postponed sponsorship of the proposed Wyoming Death Data Collection and Toxicology Transparency Act.<\/em>[1]<\/p>\n

\"CCHR
Image caption: A mental health watchdog warns that misleading claims from special interests may hinder vital data collection on psychiatric drugs linked to suicide and violence, urging legislators to advance transparent toxicology reporting for public safety.<\/em><\/p>\n

The bill\u2014similar to a recent Tennessee law\u2014would require coroners to test for and report the presence of psychiatric drugs in suicides and violent deaths\u2014using only anonymous, aggregate data. This information would provide lawmakers with transparent, population-level evidence that can improve public safety.<\/p>\n

Although the bill\u2019s focus is limited to non-identifiable, aggregated reporting, the committee chose not to sponsor it as a committee bill, instead leaving the door open for individual legislators to introduce it, keeping the proposal alive for future debate.<\/p>\n

Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, said there was \u201ca shocking amount of disinformation presented to lawmakers in the hearing by state officials and psychiatric representatives opposing this important public-awareness bill.\u201d She added, \u201cSuch resistance reflects a broader national pattern of efforts by psychiatric-pharmaceutical interests to suppress information about the risks associated with these drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the hearing, a county coroner claimed that \u201cif someone is taking their medication like they\u2019re supposed to, ten to one they\u2019re not gonna die by suicide.\u201d Yet, in stark contrast, an April 2025 University of East London analysis of nearly 8,000 U.K. coroners\u2019 inquests found antidepressants were linked to 2,718 hangings, 933 overdoses, and 979 other suicides.[2]<\/p>\n

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required black-box warnings on antidepressants since 2004, the agency\u2019s most severe warning label, citing increased suicide risk for individuals up to age 24. A 2023 Neuropsychopharmacology<\/em> study confirmed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can triple suicide-attempt risk among minors and double it in young adults.[3]<\/p>\n

Internationally recognized researcher Dr. Peter C. G\u00f8tzsche concluded in The BMJ<\/em> that antidepressants \u201ccan cause suicide and homicide at any age,\u201d citing drug-induced agitation, impulsivity, and aggression.[4] Psychopharmacology expert Professor David Healy likewise found that SSRIs caused one in four healthy volunteers to become agitated or suicidal\u2014symptoms seen in 5% of clinical-trial participants, compared with 0.5% on placebo.[5]<\/p>\n

CCHR\u2019s submission emphasized that these findings are highly relevant to Wyoming. In 2019, about 11.8% of Wyoming\u2019s 578,759 residents\u2014roughly 68,000 people\u2014were prescribed antidepressants. Based on Healy\u2019s data, more than 3,000 people could experience agitation severe enough to heighten suicide or violence risk. This, CCHR argued, underscores why the proposed toxicology transparency law is a vital public-safety measure.<\/p>\n

Wyoming juries have previously recognized such risks. In 2001, a Cheyenne jury found that an antidepressant was a substantial factor in a man with no prior mental or violent history killing his family within days of being prescribed the drug\u2014determining that it was 80% responsible for the acts.[6]<\/p>\n

Similar court findings worldwide have linked antidepressants and stimulants to psychosis, suicide, and homicide:<\/p>\n