Accused Trayvon Martin Killer was Previously Prescribed Adderall

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George Zimmerman, accused of killing unarmed Trayvon Martin while communicating with police dispatchers who tried to restrain him, was prescribed Adderall (a stimulant) and Temazepam (a benzodiazepine) prior to the incident. Adderall’s label warns users to watch for “new or worsening mental or mood problems (eg, aggression, agitation, anxiety, delusions, depression, hallucination, hostility.)” The prescribing doctor had noted that it was “imperative” that Zimmerman be evaluated by a psychologist.

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Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

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Kermit Cole
Kermit Cole, MFT, founding editor of Mad in America, works in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a couples and family therapist. Inspired by Open Dialogue, he works as part of a team and consults with couples and families that have members identified as patients. His work in residential treatment — largely with severely traumatized and/or "psychotic" clients — led to an appreciation of the power and beauty of systemic philosophy and practice, as the alternative to the prevailing focus on individual pathology. A former film-maker, he has undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology from Harvard University, as well as an MFT degree from the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia. He is a doctoral candidate with the Taos Institute and the Free University of Brussels. You can reach him at [email protected].

5 COMMENTS

  1. This makes absolutely no sense. I have just went all over the web reading about this case to see what, if anything, prescriptions drugs could have to do with this, and the answer I found is that it’s being used AGAINST him with the argument that maybe he wasn’t shooting in self defense but was agitated instead.

    The story:
    Zimmerman was a member of a neighborhood watch program. He saw a black male who looked suspicious and then two story’s emergy: One that Zimmerman followed and harassed the suspicious person and provoked him to attack, and then shot him and 2) that Zimmerman went to get the house # where he saw the suspicious man in case it was robbed, and then the black man attacked him unprovoked just before he was shot.

    In any case, Zimmerman was beaten and bloodied when the police arrived and witness claim that the black male was in fact beating Zimmerman’s head into the ground before Zimmerman shot him, but did Zimmerman PROVOKE the altercation? That’s the only issue. What do prescription drugs have to do with this?

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  2. This makes absolutely no sense. I have just went all over the web reading about this case to see what, if anything, prescriptions drugs could have to do with this, and the answer I found is that it’s being used AGAINST him with the argument that maybe he wasn’t shooting in self defense but was agitated instead.

    The story:
    Zimmerman was a member of a neighborhood watch program. He saw a black male who looked suspicious and then two story’s emergy: One that Zimmerman followed and harassed the suspicious person and provoked him to attack, and then shot him and 2) that Zimmerman went to get the house # where he saw the suspicious man in case it was robbed, and then the black man attacked him unprovoked just before he was shot.

    In any case, Zimmerman was beaten and bloodied when the police arrived and witness claim that the black male was in fact beating Zimmerman’s head into the ground before Zimmerman shot him, but did Zimmerman PROVOKE the altercation? That’s the only issue. What do prescription drugs have to do with this?

    Report comment

    • But drugs can in fact be responsible for such things, as can the brain. You wont convince too many science oriented people in this day and age that the brain isn’t the origin of behavior, and obviously when the brain is compromised, so is behavior. Of course drugs can make people “freak out”, but I don’t see what that has to do with this case anyway since it was a self defense shooting or a provoked self defense shooting either way. Drug induced psychosis, mania, hostility, ect, could not have played a role.

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