Homicide

Ellinwood EH Jr Assault and homicide associated with amphetamine abuse. Am J Psychiatry 127 1170-1175, 1971... 

Trimethoxyamphetamine (TMA) causes perceptual distortions, LSD-like synesthesias, and dissociative states. At high doses, it may produce unprovoked anger, aggressive behavior, and homicidal violence (Shulgin 1978). 

Let me give you an example of this, which is particularly true in homicides. The individual is engaged in an activity and suddenly misinterprets something. He wakes up in the back of a car and smells poison gas and hits someone over the head with a pipewrench. Or he is robbing a store and someone smiles. There is a sudden impulse and he kills an individual. 

Experiences hearing others call his name, and interpreting the car lights coming down his street as meaning people are out to get him. He denies suicidal or homicidal thoughts. 

Educate on warning signs and prevention of suicidal and/or homicidal ideation. 

The fate of Kelly remains in question. Her hospitalization since 1989 for homicidal/ suicidal behavior is a tale of abuse by state authorities, regardless of whether you believe the rest of their story. Kelly has been denied an attorney to represent her and the social worker assigned operates on a "need to know" basis, according to Cathy. 

Areas with high income inequality and low average income had an excess mortality of 139.8 deaths per 100000, compared with areas with low inequality and high income. In 1995, the magnitude of this mortality difference was comparable to the combined loss of life from lung cancer, diabetes, motor crashes, HIV, suicide, and homicide combined (Lynch et al., 1998, p. 1079). 

There is also evidence from a large number of studies that homicide and violent crime are substantially more common in less egalitarian countries. (A meta analysis carried out by Hsieh and Pugh showing violent crime and homicide rates related to income inequality covers 34 studies (Hsieh and Pugh, 1993).) All of this evidence strongly suggests that as social status differences in a society increase, the quality of social relations deteriorates. The countries studied included the US, UK, Italy, and Japan, plus a number in Eastern Europe. 

One of the primary sources of anxiety considered by Wilkinson is violence. He notes the association between income inequality and homicide. Among the 50 US states, it accounts for half of the very large variations in homicide rates between states. The higher violence was not between rich and poor. 

We are left with many questions still unanswered. What is it about social status and social integration that makes them so important to health What are the main sources of chronic anxiety, and what are their effects on health (This is an especially promising question, since we already have a good idea about why stress affects health (Sapolsky, 1998).) What is the association between income inequality and homicide (Homicide can account for half the variation in mortality rates between states.) How does inequality affect emotional development in early life ... 

Long-term amphetamine abuse results in many damaging effects, not least of which is addiction. Chronic abusers exhibit symptoms that can include violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia. They also can display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions (for example, the sensation of insects creeping on the skin). The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal thoughts. 

During the period 1200 to 1650, however, arsenic was used extensively in homicides (NRCC... 

Flomicides have been committed under the influence of LSD and other drugs of this type, although these agents are not intrinsically likely to unleash violent behavior. Rather, the disinhibiting effects may remove constraints or violence already present in an individual. I have encountered instances of persons accused of homicide who claimed that the crime was perpetrated under the influence of hallucinogens. Unfortunately, it is not possible to substantiate such claims. Some, however, strain one s credulity and suggest that this type of plea of diminished responsibility is often misused. 

An analysis of 19 deaths from PCP overdose that occurred in two California counties from 1970 to 1976 showed that 12 were accidental, five suicidal, and two homicidal. Eight of the 12 accidental deaths were from drowning. Blood concentrations ranged from 1,250 to 2,300 ng/ml. Virtually all patients with levels of 1,000 ng/ml or more had coma, with the possible evolution of death due to medical complications, seizures, or respiratory depression. Levels greater than 2,000 ng/ml were almost always fatal (12). 

Finally, one of the most difficult types of crises to address is the death of a client. People with drug problems often lead very risky lives, and the threat of death may be ever present with such clients. People who use drugs are at risk from infectious diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS, from suicide and homicide, and from accidents. The saddest events in my professional career have been associated with losing a client. Such losses burden professionals, who may assume some level of responsibility for the death or may feel a sense of loss in not being able to meet with the client any more. Be aware that caregivers sometimes need care themselves, and this is one particular situation in which that may be true. Do not be shy about seeking help if you feel that the death of a client has adversely affected your professional or personal life. 

Oral exposure to cyanide usually results from accidental, homicidal, or suicidal ingestion of cyanide salts. Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are the most frequently studied cyanide compounds. Copper cyanide, potassium silver cyanide, silver cyanide, and calcium cyanide are other compounds that humans could encounter through oral or dermal exposure. Cassava roots and certain fruit pits contain compounds that can be broken down to form cyanide. Cassava roots form the staple diet of some populations in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia. However, it must be noted that cassava roots are notoriously deficient in protein and other nutrients and contain many other compounds, in addition to cyanide, that could be responsible for some of the observed toxic effects. Thiocyanate is a metabolite of cyanide that is formed in the body after exposure to cyanide compounds. When possible, all oral exposures are expressed as mg CN/kg/day. 

There is a long history of the use of Aconitum, Delphinium and Consolida species as the source of poisons and medicinals [1]. These three genera in Ranunculaceae family yield diterpenoid and norditerpenoid alkaloids. The name Delphinium derived from dolphine-delphine due to the shape of their flower buds [2]. Aconitum has an evil reputation from the antiquity [3]. The plant was used as poison in old Greece, also in north-west Pacific the natives used it to poison the whales and also as arrow poison. In England in the ancient times the plant was used against wolves, boars, tigers as well as against rodents, and it was also a homicide material [4]. 

Those early metallurgists who were clever enough to learn how to transform crude ores to shiny metals were prohahly also observant enough to discover that some of the materials being worked with could harm them. Some of the earliest written accounts of humans on earth provide evidence that the ancient Greeks and Romans were well aware of the poisonous properties of certain plants and metals. The case of the poisoning of Socrates with hemlock is only the most famous of the early references to the deliberate use of certain plants for suicidal or homicidal purposes. 

Clearly, if a person has to ingest a pint or more of a chemical before his life is seriously threatened, this chemical is not a likely candidate for use in homicide or suicide, and is highly unlikely to be ingested accidentally in dangerous amounts. Chemicals rated in categories 5 or 6, however, need to be extremely carefully controlled. 

McGee MB, Jejurikar SG, VanBerkom LC. 1987. A double homicide as a result of chloroform poisoning. J Forensic Sci 32 1453-1459. 

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