Did drug trigger Paddock aggression?

MANILA, Philippines — The shooter in Sunday’s Las Vegas concert massacre was diagnosed with anxiety and prescribed with a drug that can lead to destructive behavior, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

A doctor from Henderson City, Steven Walker, prescribed diazepam tablets (brand name Valium) to Stephen Paddock on June 21, the Review-Journal reported, obtaining records from the Nevada Prescription Monitoring Program.

Paddock fired at a crowd with high-powered rifles from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Hotel, killing at least 58 people and wounding over 500 others.

Winkler’s office, however, would neither confirm nor deny that Paddock was a patient.

Paddock was reported to have bought Valium without insurance at a Walgreens store in Reno on the same day it was prescribed.

Diazepam is a sedative-hypnotic drug in the class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which studies have shown can trigger aggressive behavior. Chronic use or abuse of sedatives such as diazepam can also trigger psychotic experiences, according to drugabuse.com

“If somebody has an underlying aggression problem and you sedate them with that drug, they can become aggressive,” the Journal reported, quoting Dr. Mel Pohl, chief medical officer of the Las Vegas Recovery Center.

“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,” Pohl told the Review-Journal from the Netherlands.

The drug can also be magnified by alcohol, he said.

In 2015, the World Psychiatry conducted a study of 960 Finnish adults and teens convicted of homicide which showed that “their odds of killing were 45 percent higher during time periods when they were on benzodiazepines.”