Every mass shooting over the last 20 years has one thing in common . . . and it's not guns

No one-liners this week, the subject is far too serious to attempt glib wisecracks.

Much has been said about the rising epidemic of opioid use and how it is destroying lives across America. These painkillers have become too easy to get, either through prescriptions or on the street.

The need to address and hopefully stop this problem has been made clear but there is another drug problem that has been ignored for far too long and is every bit as destructive as opioids. That would be psychiatric medications.

Every mass shooting over the last 20 years has one thing in common... it's not guns, it's psychiatric drugs.

According to multiple sources and research done over many years, the overwhelming evidence is that the largest common factor in all of these incidents is the fact that all of the perpetrators were either actively taking powerful psychotropic drugs or had been at some point in the immediate past before they committed their crimes.

In an article reported in Natural News, "multiple credible scientific studies going back more than a decade, as well as internal documents from certain pharmaceutical companies that suppressed the information show that SSRI drugs (Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors) have well known, but unreported side effects, including but not limited to suicide and other violent behavior."

Prozac is one type of these anti-depressant drugs. "Mainstream Media" has documented over 4500 reported cases from around the world of aberrant or violent behavior by those taking these powerful drugs. There have been at least 36 school shootings and/or school-related acts of violence committed by those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 80 people being killed and 172 wounded. And these are only the cases that we know for sure.

There have been other school shootings, but information about their drug use was never made publicÑneither confirming nor refuting if they were under the influence of prescribed drugs.Ê Because of space limitations I can't name them all, but check out a sampling of the ones that we do know for certain were committed by people that were "medicated" with SSRI drugs.

The list not only includes mass shootings but the use of knives and bombs.

1 Chelsea, Michigan --- December 16, 1993: 39-year-old chemistry teacher Stephen Leith, facing a disciplinary matter at Chelsea High School, shot Superintendent Joseph Piasecki to death, shot Principal Ron Mead in the leg, and slightly wounded journalism teacher Phil Jones. Leith was taking Prozac and had been seeing a psychiatrist.

2 Blackville, South Carolina --- October 12, 1995: 15-year-old Toby R. Sincino entered the Blackville-Hilda High School's rear entrance, where he shot two Blackville-Hilda High School teachers. Then Toby killed himself. His aunt, Carolyn McCreary, said he had been undergoing counseling with the Department of Mental Health and was taking Zoloft for emotional problems.

3 Springfield, Oregon --- May 21, 1998: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his parents and then went to school where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 25. Kinkel had been taking the antidepressant Prozac. Kinkel had been attending "anger control classes" and had previously been under the care of a psychologist.

4 Columbine, Colorado --- April 20, 1999: 18-year-old Eric Harris and his accomplice, Dylan Klebold, killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 26 others before killing themselves. Harris was on the antidepressant Luvox. Klebold's medical records remain sealed. Both shooters had been in anger-management classes and had undergone counseling.Ê Harris had been seeing a psychiatrist before the shooting.

5 El Cajon, California --- March 22, 2001: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, on the antidepressants Celexa and Effexor, opened fire on his classmates, wounding three students and two teachers at Granite Hills High School. He had been seeing a psychiatrist before the shooting.

6 Sudbury, Massachusetts --- January 19, 2007: 16-year-old John Odgren stabbed another student to death with a large kitchen knife in a boy's bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. In court his father testified that his son was prescribed the drug Ritalin.

7 Myrtle Beach, South Carolina --- September 21, 2011: 14-year-old Christian Helms had two pipe bombs in his backpack, when he shot and wounded Socastee High School's "resource" (police) officer. The officer was able to stop the student before he could do anything further.Ê Evidence showed that he was planning an attack similar to the Columbine High School shooting. He had been taking drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression.

There are dozens more but you get the idea. While the media and progressive Democrats tend to focus only on "gun violence" the real problem goes largely untold.

Until we realize that mental illness and over-medication of SSRI drugs are the real causes for mass killings in our society these horrifying events will go on.

Don't take my word for it, research it for yourself and see what the facts are.