{"id":18182,"date":"2012-12-18T19:02:54","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T18:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=18182"},"modified":"2012-12-18T19:02:54","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T18:02:54","slug":"top-10-legal-drugs-linked-to-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/top-10-legal-drugs-linked-to-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Legal Drugs Linked to Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time<\/a> |<\/p>\n

When people consider the connections between drugs and violence, what typically comes to mind are illegal drugs like crack cocaine. However, certain medications \u2013 most notably, some antidepressants like Prozac \u2013 have also been linked to increase risk for violent, even homicidal behavior.<\/p>\n

A new\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices published in the journal\u00a0PloS One<\/em>\u00a0and based on data from the FDA\u2019s Adverse Event Reporting System has identified 31 drugs that are disproportionately linked with reports of violent behavior towards others. (More on Time.com:<\/strong>New Hope For An Anti-Cocaine Vaccine<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Please note that this does not necessarily mean that these drugs cause violent behavior. For example, in the case of opioid pain medications like Oxycontin, people with a prior history of violent behavior may seek drugs in order to sustain an addiction, which they support via predatory crime. In the case of antipsychotics, the drugs may be given in an attempt to reduce violence by people suffering from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders \u2013 so the drugs here might not be causing violence, but could be linked with it because they\u2019re used to try to stop it.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, when one particular drug in a class of nonaddictive drugs used to treat the same problem stands out, that suggests caution: unless the drug is being used to treat radically different groups of people, that drug may actually be the problem. Researchers calculated a ratio of risk for each drug compared to the others in the database, adjusting for various relevant factors that could create misleading comparisons. Here are the top ten offenders:<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)<\/strong>\u00a0An antidepressant which affects both serotonin and noradrenaline, this drug is 7.9 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Venlafaxine (Effexor)<\/strong>\u00a0A drug related to Pristiq in the same class of antidepressants, both are also used to treat anxiety disorders. Effexor is 8.3 times more likely than other drugs to be related to violent behavior. (More on Time.com:\u00a0<\/strong>Adderall May Not Make You Smarter, But It Makes You Think You Are<\/a>)<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Fluvoxamine (Luvox)\u00a0<\/strong>An antidepressant that affects serotonin (SSRI), Luvox is 8.4 times more likely than other medications to be linked with violence<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Triazolam (Halcion)\u00a0<\/strong>A benzodiazepine which can be addictive, used to treat insomnia. Halcion is 8.7 times more likely to be linked with violence than other drugs, according to the study.<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0Atomoxetine (Strattera)<\/strong>\u00a0Used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Strattera affects the neurotransmitter noradrenaline and is 9 times more likely to be linked with violence compared to the average medication.<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0Mefoquine (Lariam)\u00a0<\/strong>A treatment for malaria, Lariam has long been linked with reports of bizarre behavior. It is 9.5 times more likely to be linked with violence than other drugs.<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0Amphetamines: (Various)<\/strong>\u00a0Amphetamines are used to treat ADHD and affect the brain\u2019s dopamine and noradrenaline systems. They are 9.6 times more likely to be linked to violence, compared to other drugs.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0Paroxetine (Paxil)<\/strong>\u00a0An SSRI antidepressant, Paxil is also linked with more severe withdrawal symptoms and a greater risk of birth defects compared to other medications in that class. It is 10.3 times more likely to be linked with violence compared to other drugs. (More on Time.com:<\/strong>Healthland\u2019s Guide to Life 2011<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0Fluoxetine (Prozac)<\/strong>\u00a0The first well-known SSRI antidepressant, Prozac is 10.9 times more likely to be linked with violence in comparison with other medications.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0Varenicline (Chantix)<\/strong>\u00a0The anti-smoking medication Chantix affects the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which helps reduce craving for smoking. Unfortunately, it\u2019s 18 times more likely to be linked with violence compared to other drugs \u2013 by comparison, that number for Xyban is 3.9 and just 1.9 for nicotine replacement. Because Chantix is slightly superior in terms of quit rates in comparison to other drugs, it shouldn\u2019t necessarily be ruled out as an option for those trying to quit, however.<\/p>\n

Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Placebos Work Even if You Know They\u2019re Fake: But How?<\/a><\/p>\n

What Does Meth Research Have to Do With Addiction and Autism Treatments? (It\u2019s Oxytocin.)<\/a><\/p>\n

Powerful Hallucinogen Eyed as Treatment for Alzheimer\u2019s, Chronic Pain<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0http:\/\/healthland.time.com\/2011\/01\/07\/top-ten-legal-drugs-linked-to-violence\/#ixzz2FQaRS07D<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time | When people consider the connections between drugs and violence, what typically comes to mind are illegal drugs like crack cocaine. However, certain medications \u2013 most notably, some antidepressants like Prozac \u2013 have also been linked to increase risk for violent, even homicidal behavior. A new\u00a0study\u00a0from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices published in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,18],"tags":[86],"class_list":{"0":"post-18182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-and-fitness","7":"category-latest-news","8":"tag-drugs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}