Numerous experts and ordinary people continue to speculate about what could have caused the monstrous outbreak of aggression by the inhabitants of Texas Stephen Paddock, who sent 59 people to the next world in Las Vegas. Now there is a theory that this could be a side effect of taking diazepam.
Back in June this year, a few months before the Las Vegas massacre, Stephen Paddock received a prescription for diazepam, which is a generic version of the more expensive sedative, Valium.
Information about this, which became available the other day, gave rise to a heated discussion about whether this drug could provoke aggression in an outwardly calm man. Note that in most patients who take diazepam under the supervision of doctors, side effects, if they appear, are only in the form of dizziness, memory problems, and even sexual dysfunction.
However, in some rare cases, the drug can provoke suicidal thoughts, aggressiveness, panic attacks, as well as a sharp limitation of empathy, that is, the ability to empathize with others, which gives rise to psychopaths.
Already on Wednesday, there were numerous reports on Twitter that diazepam was the cause of Stephen Paddock's incredible brutality. However, the doctors were quick to announce that the likelihood of this is extremely negligible. They believe that diazepam by itself could not push a person to such a heinous crime.
"Aggression is one of the side effects of diazepam, but only in a very small number of cases," said Dr. Daniel Amen, psychiatrist at Amen Clinics in Chicago. - The much more common side effects of diazepam are drowsiness and lethargy. In this way, it resembles the effect of alcohol on the body. But I cannot rule out that in a vulnerable brain he could provoke aggression."
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Diazepam also enhances the effect of sleeping pills, narcotic, neuroleptic, analgesic drugs, alcohol. Taking the drug for a long time can lead to dependence on it. In Russia, the circulation of diazepam has been limited since 2013.
On October 1, Paddock opened fire with automatic weapons at the participants of the country music festival on the 32nd floor, in a room at the Mandalay Bay hotel, and then committed suicide. Because of his actions, 59 people died, more than 500 were injured.
In his room, 23 weapons were found, including 19 submachine guns, more than a thousand cartridges, and in his house in Mesquite (Nevada), the police found explosives and their components.