http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Article ... ryId=36641
Vegas Shooter Was on Anti-Anxiety Medicine That Can Make Users Aggressive
LAS VEGAS – Stephen Paddock, the gunman who killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 others in Las Vegas last weekend, was prescribed an anti-anxiety medicine in June that can make users behave aggressively, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Wednesday.
“Records from the Nevada Prescription Monitoring Program obtained on Tuesday show Paddock was prescribed 50 10-milligram diazepam tablets by Henderson physician Dr. Steven Winkler on June 21,” the newspaper said.
Paddock obtained the medicine, which is sold under the brand name Valium, at a Walgreens pharmacy in Reno, Nevada, on the same day it was prescribed by Winkler.
Abuse of diazepam, according to information posted on the drugabuse.com website, can lead to psychotic episodes.
“If somebody has an underlying aggression problem and you sedate them with that drug, they can become aggressive,” Dr. Mel Pohl, chief medical officer of the Las Vegas Recovery Center, told the Review-Journal. “It can disinhibit an underlying emotional state. It is much like what happens when you give alcohol to some people, they become aggressive instead of going to sleep.”
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