The Health and Human Services is investigating the possible link between drugs and mass shootings, says Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
After the Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 27, Kennedy told “Fox & Friends” his department is “launching studies” into the contribution of drugs to school shootings. Kennedy was asked about the topic against the backdrop of recent shooters such as Robin Westman and Audrey Hale in Tennessee in 2023 identifying as transgender.
Westman, identified as the shooter in the Minnesota case, worked at a medical-cannabis dispensary until the month of the shooting, reports Time. Reporter Alex Berenson has documented connections between cannabis and psychosis-induced violence in his book, Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence.
Kennedy said his department is studying selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), commonly used to treat depression, as potential contributors to violence. Many SSRIs have black-box warnings that they may lead to suicidal and homicidal ideation.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) expressed doubt that no one saw warning signs in Westman.
“Somebody had to know,” Emmer told the New York Post.
Dangers of THC Use
“Intoxicants like THC [an ingredient in cannabis] can enable an exaggerated response, just like alcohol increases a tendency to behavior that is exaggerated,” said John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D., an emergency physician for 50 years who has treated many patients with psychological illnesses.
“Do you think there is any doubt he was a regular user?” said Dunn. “THC of the more recent variety is much more intoxicating and affecting. THC can aggravate criminal tendencies and sociopathic tendencies in some individuals. It depends on their underlying mental state.”
Dunn said Westman’s actions indicate narcissism.
“He was angry and agitated with his condition, his situation, he seems to have had a narcissistic personality disorder, and he was prone to what is called narcissistic rage: impulsive, anger-generated acts striking out at the world.”
A 2018 article in Psychology Today defines narcissistic rage as “intense anger, aggression, or passive-aggression when a narcissist experiences a setback or disappointment, which shatters his (or her) illusions of grandiosity, entitlement, and superiority, and triggers inner inadequacy, shame, and vulnerability.”
Connection With Treatments
In the wake of trying to make sense of such an unspeakable act, the shooting of school children attending a religious service, Dunn says it is reasonable to question whether transgendered individuals become violent because of their treatments.
“SSRIs are mood changers and stimulants, so they have pharmacological effects that are excitatory,” said Dunn. “Estrogen and progesterone, female hormones for a male who is ‘tranny,’ would not increase aggressive tendencies, but if they are given to someone with intact male sex organs secreting testosterone, there is no predicting the result of the interaction.”
Gender-dysphoric individuals “are sociopathic because they are deviant and they believe that the world is their enemy because it doesn’t respect their choices, their deviance,” said Dunn.
Physicians and others involved in transitioning children are violating “international and domestic law on medical practice and human experimentation” and are committing malpractice, says Dunn.
“Encouraging gender-confused individuals with gender-affirming practices, hormone manipulation, and surgical mutilation is criminal behavior,” said Dunn. “Liberal neurotic” mothers in the home and teachers and groomers outside the home are responsible for the outcomes, says Dunn.
‘An Unhealthy Coping Mechanism’
Whether someone has physically transitioned or not, “the mere attempt to live as the opposite sex is an unhealthy coping mechanism,” says Paul Dupont, policy director of the American Principles Project.
Studies suggest transgender individuals on cross-sex hormones might be more prone to mental illness, says Dupont.
“There has been some research pointing to an increased risk of depression for males with high levels of estrogen,” said Dupont. “So, if Westman was taking cross-sex hormones, it’s possible they could have worsened his mental state beyond the distress he was already feeling.”
Westman underwent a name change as a minor.
“Ending the practice of giving minors transgender drugs and surgeries should be a no-brainer,” said Dupont. “Much of the transgender industry is built upon government subsidy, and cutting off that flow of support would make a significant difference.”
Mental Health Crisis
The U.S. sex reassignment surgery industry was valued at $2.1 billion in 2022. The Trump administration is in the process of defunding hospitals that engage in chemical and surgical alteration of children, and ignoring the real issue.
“We have become afraid as a society to speak about the crisis of persons who manifest delusions, far removed from reality, and are dealing with temptations and inner torments,” wrote Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia in a commentary after the Minneapolis attack. “We must acknowledge and respond to the crisis of mental health in our country.”
‘Therapy Bans’
How the government will respond to the social crisis will be critical, says Dupont.
“Over 20 states currently have so-called ‘conversion therapy bans’ which actually mandate that a therapist reinforce a person’s gender dysphoria rather than treating it,” said Dupont.
“These laws are a significant intrusion into mental health care by politicians and have had a damaging impact,” said Dupont. Congressional Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to pass them at the federal level, Dupont says.
“Fortunately, they are being challenged in many places, and the Supreme Court will soon rule on whether or not they infringe on the First Amendment rights of therapists, in the upcoming Chiles v. Salazar case,” said Dupont.
Other states are moving in the opposite direction, with 27 having passed bans on gender-affirming care, states a KFF policy tracker dated August 12, 2025.
Harry Painter ([email protected]) writes from Oklahoma.
Internet info:
“U.S. Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Gender Transition (Female-to-male, Male-to-female), by Procedure (Mastectomy, Vaginoplasty, Scrotoplasty, Hysterectomy, Phalloplasty), and Segment Forecasts, 2023-2030,” Grand View Research, September 6, 2025: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-sex-reassignment-surgery-market
Harry Painter ([email protected]) writes from Brooklyn, New York.
