NEWS: Zoloft Teen Found Guilty

CULTURE: Zoloft Teen Found Guilty

Chris Pittman, the 15-year-old boy mentioned in this story, has been found guilty of murder.

The South Carolina jury reached a verdict after about six hours of deliberations. Pittman, who claims that the prescription antidepressant Zoloft caused him to murder his grandparents, is facing thirty years to life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for this afternoon.

good to hear.

If he was aquitted, I could just see the long line to the morgue, and the crowds of people screaming "It was the Prozak!!!"

Great, another person I have to support while they spend a lifetime in the pen.

That's something of a tragedy, yup... they need to find a way to make prisons self sufficient :/

do i hear a new reality show in the works?

zoloft never removed years of morals reasoning and thoughts from my brain.

gee whiz, im going to go take this advil and torch some places and kill some people and say it confused me into thinking what was right and what was wrong.

lame. clearly the kiddo had other problems that zoloft got blamed for.

It's known of the privitization of prisons. It's not a good thing thus far.

An angel is getting its wings!

I'm usually all for penalties, and killing your grandparents is so beyond fucked I can hardly comprehend it, but this kid had to have issues before to end up on meds at the age of 12, and it somehow seems like heavy counseling would go a lot farther with a kid than life in prison. Imagine what he'll be like by the time he's paroled. I dunno. Horrible situation no matter what the verdict. It just kind of makes me sad.

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It costs more to execute someone. I'm serious. Look it up.

Is it? I'm fairly sure I've got enough of a read on bambam's troglodyte mentality by now to know that he meant "They should just execute the fucker and save me some money."

Actually, there is a lot of evidence pointing to violence in those who take antidepressants with SSRI's(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) in them, as seen here.

if it was zoloft's fault, wouldn't our gutters be choked with the corpses of people who had been killed by people who were in the midst of an uncontrollable drug-induced rage? it's very sad, but oh well, killers go to jail

I agree.....

Yes, just like this Oxycontin caused me to crush it up, snort it, have 8 beers and choke to death on my own vomit.

Meanwhile, people who aren't totally fucking stupid are suffering from real pain and real depression. But 10 million people is a statistic, 1 idiot is a headline.

yup. strictly speaking of the zoloft-makes-you-wacko concept...it is a clear warning on the medication. especially in teenagers.

It's a sad day when the fact that the justice system used common sense is a remarkable occurrence.

I refrain passing judgement as often as possible but this kid deserves his come-uppance if not for killing people, then lying in such a lame but potentially dangerous way. If he'd been found innocent and his ruling were used to get Zoloft banned, he'd be partially responsible for any ramifications.

that's true. my friend's grandfather (he was 80 something) was on zoloft and a couple of other meds. then one night, he shot his wife and then himself for no reason.

i was on zoloft for at least a year when i was in highschool. i never had any crazy homocidal side effects. i can't even kill spiders.

some SSRI affect people in different ways and are more sensitive to their effects depending on their genetic makeup as pharmaceuticals have started to put warnings on their labels. Maybe a combination of the SSRI and his already fragile psyche led him to commit his crimes but no one would be able to know for sure. Nevertheless, he did commit this crime and some kind of punishment has to be dish out . I feel sorry for him though, be in jail since 12, and now facing a possible life sentence ...

just like marilyn manson and grand theft auto made me kill people too...

Zoloft backfired for me, I got way more depressed, I had a short fuse, and I wanted to hurt things. 3 days after throwing half a bottle away, I felt 300% better.

Zoloft is a joke, and a waste of money, regaurdless of the damned co-pay or not.

My cure for depression... go out, get some fresh air, and try and meet people.
Worked for me anyways.

Good I'm glad he got the guilty verdict and the possible sentence as well. Time for people to take responsibility for what they do and stop blaming everything on everything else

Zoloft hasn't made me want to kill someone

I refrain passing judgement as often as possible but this kid deserves his come-uppance if not for killing people, then lying in such a lame but potentially dangerous way. If he'd been found innocent and his ruling were used to get Zoloft banned, he'd be partially responsible for any ramifications

I'd be pissed if Zoloft got banned...that stuff makes me a much happier and sane person.

[Edited on Feb 16, 2005 7:14AM]