Mental Health Awareness Month Sees New Precedent-Setting Law Linking Psychiatric Drug Use to Public Safety Risks
By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
May 9, 2025
A landmark law signed in Tennessee on April 30—just one day before the start of Mental Health Awareness Month—marks a breakthrough in psychiatric treatment oversight and accountability. The law mandates toxicology testing for prescription psychotropic drugs in autopsies of individuals involved in certain mass shootings, setting a precedent that advocates say could transform how violence linked to psychotropic drugs is understood and addressed. Sheila Matthews, Vice President of the parents’ rights group AbleChild, co-drafted the bill along with pharmaceutical industry reform advocate Amy Miller. Matthews said the law could have far-reaching effects, calling it a “blueprint for dismantling the wall of secrecy” about the violent adverse effects of some psychotropics. “When someone commits mass murder, the public has a right to know if mind-altering drugs played a role,” she says.[1]
CCHR hails the bill as a major step forward. Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, called it “a groundbreaking public safety initiative that finally confronts documented evidence linking psychiatric drugs to violence.”
The law requires that when a deceased perpetrator is responsible for four or more fatalities in a shooting, the county medical examiner must test for the presence of any drugs, including psychotropics. The results must then be disclosed to both the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the state Department of Health. The University is tasked with examining drug interactions found in the bodies of violent perpetrators.[2]
Eastgate noted that more than 77 million Americans are currently prescribed psychotropic drugs, including over 6 million children and adolescents. “Tennessee’s leadership should be a catalyst for nationwide protections,” she said. “Informed consent requires full transparency about the documented risks these drugs can carry—including violence, hostility, and psychosis.”
CCHR says this law should serve as a starting point for broader reform. As currently written, the toxicology testing requirement applies only when the perpetrator is deceased and the incident involves four or more fatalities. It does not mandate testing or disclosure if the perpetrator survives, nor does it guarantee that the toxicology results will be made public—only that they are reported to state health officials and lawmakers. Still, it provides a strong foundation to build on—and CCHR is calling for similar laws in other states, with expanded provisions to close these remaining gaps in transparency and accountability.
CCHR emphasized that data from these toxicology reports could be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Adverse Drug Reporting (ADR) system, where trends in violence-linked drug reactions can trigger safety reviews. The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System has received at least 1,530 reports of homicide or homicidal ideation associated with psychiatric drugs.[3]
A 2010 study published in PLOS ONE analyzed FDA ADR data and found 31 drugs disproportionately linked to violence—25 of them psychiatric. These included antidepressants, sedatives, and stimulants used to treat ADHD, with reported cases ranging from aggression and homicidal ideation to physical assaults and completed homicides.[4]
Since 1989, CCHR has compiled evidence and case studies of violent acts involving individuals who were either taking or withdrawing from psychotropic drugs. In 2018, it published Psychiatric Drugs: Create Violence & Suicide—School Shootings and Other Acts of Senseless Violence, which cited more than 30 scientific studies associating psychiatric drugs with suicide, aggression, and impulsivity.
The U.S. Justice Department-funded Violence Project launched the most comprehensive mass shooter database in November 2019.[5] A 2021 analysis of the database by Voice of America found that 23% of known mass shooters were taking psychiatric drugs—a figure considered significantly underreported due to limited access to toxicology and medical records.[6]
International drug regulators have also warned of violence-related risks. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration lists “homicidal ideation” as a side effect for at least one antidepressant, and “suicidal or homicidal tendencies” for a commonly used stimulant. A 2023 study found that antipsychotics may cause agitation, hostility, and impulsivity.[7] In 2024, experts pointed to “overwhelming evidence” that antidepressants can contribute to homicide in some individuals.[8]
“These drugs can have unpredictable, dangerous effects—and families and the public are often kept in the dark,” said Eastgate. “Tennessee’s law is a first step in lifting that veil.”
CCHR says the law strengthens the case for rethinking coercive psychiatric practices and moving toward informed, non-biological approaches in the mental health system. “We need to stop blaming patients and start looking at the treatments being forced on them,” Eastgate added.
With the American Psychiatric Association (APA) holding its annual meeting in Los Angeles during May, CCHR is urging the APA to formally support Tennessee’s initiative and publicly endorse the global call for an end to coercive psychiatric treatment. Matthews called for the mental health industry to stop stigmatizing patients and instead examine the role of prescribed drugs in acts of violence.
CCHR says the Tennessee law should serve as a national model for similar legislation in other states—ideally expanded to include toxicology testing regardless of whether the perpetrator survives and with stronger requirements for public reporting of results.
“Public safety, transparency, and patient rights must come before psychiatric-pharmaceutical interests,” Eastgate said. “This law is a turning point—but it must not be the last.”
References:
[1] “AbleChild: Tennessee Sets National Precedent with Passage of AbleChild Bill Requiring Psychotropic Drug Testing in Mass Shooter Cases,” The GatewayPundit, 30 Apr. 2025, https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/ablechild-tennessee-sets-national-precedent-passage-ablechild-bill/
[2]“AbleChild: Tennessee Sets National Precedent with Passage of AbleChild Bill Requiring Psychotropic Drug Testing in Mass Shooter Cases,” The GatewayPundit, 30 Apr. 2025, https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/ablechild-tennessee-sets-national-precedent-passage-ablechild-bill/
[3] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/10/11/cchr-wants-increased-consumer-awareness-about-prescriptions-for-violence/; Psychiatric Drugs Create Violence & Suicide, CCHR International, 2017, p. 12, https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/violence-report.pdf
[4] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/06/13/23-percent-mass-shooters-on-psychiatric-drugs/#_edn2 Thomas J. Moore, Joseph Glenmullen, Curt D. Furbert, “Prescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others,” Public Library of Science ONE, Vol. 5, lss. 12, Dec. 2010, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002271/
[5] The Violence Project Database of Mass Shootings in the United States, 1966–2019 Jillian K. Peterson & James A. Densley, Nov. 2019
[6] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/06/13/23-percent-mass-shooters-on-psychiatric-drugs/; Sharon Shahid and Megan Duzor, “VOA SPECIAL REPORT: HISTORY OF MASS SHOOTERS,” VOA News, 1 June 2021, https://projects.voanews.com/mass-shootings/
[7] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/10/11/cchr-wants-increased-consumer-awareness-about-prescriptions-for-violence/; “Detailed View: Safety Labeling Changes Approved By FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) – November 2005,” FDA; AUSTRALIAN PRODUCT INFORMATION ASPEN DEXAMFETAMINE (dexamfetamine sulfate) tablets, 15 Oct. 2021; Alex Alikiotis “The Link Between Antipsychotics And Aggressive Behavior: Understanding The Potential Causes Of Violence,” MedShun 24 Dec. 2023, https://medshun.com/article/why-do-antipsychotics-cause-violence
[8] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/10/11/cchr-wants-increased-consumer-awareness-about-prescriptions-for-violence/
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