Batman Colorado shooting: James Holmes fixated by altered states of mind

[dkf]

James Holmes, the alleged "Joker" gunman, described his fascination with altered states of mind in a lecture to other students, and dosed up on prescription medication before the atrocity, it emerged on Sunday.

The first video footage of the suspect showed him as an awkward, nervous 18-year-old giving a talk at a science summer camp in San Diego on "temporal illusions". It also emerged that in the days before the attack, Holmes, a cannabis smoker, joined a dating website seeking women for "sexy times" and also tried to join a gun club.
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After the massacre Holmes calmly told detectives he had taken 100mg of the prescription painkiller Vicodin, and identified himself as "The Joker". The same drug was found in the system of actor Heath Ledger when he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in 2008. Ledger played The Joker in the previous Batman film The Dark Knight. Vicodin side-effects can include euphoria, paranoia and, in rare cases, hallucinations.

The video footage of Holmes was taken at Miramar College in San Diego and showed him explaining that "temporal illusions" are "an illusion that allows you to change the past". Holmes said he had been working on "subjective experience, which is what takes place inside the mind as oppose to the external world".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9419299/Batman-Colorado-shooting-James-Holmes-fixated-by-altered-states-of-mind.html

[limpyhobbler]

1. Here to defend weed. It doesn't make you a mass murderer. Thanks.

[pnwest]

2. word.

[progressivebydesign]

3. actually, if someone is schizophrenic, weed can cause violent outbursts.

There are some people who should absolutely not smoke weed. There have been several high profile cases with someone who was not taking their meds, but smoked pot instead.. with horrific results. A murder in Santa Margarita, California a few years ago was one of them. It's not generally dangerous, but can be for people with certain conditions.

[limpyhobbler]

4. You said he was not taking his medication. Isn't that a sufficient explanation?

I wouldn't believe marijuana makes people murder unless I saw some serious proof.

[eShirl]

6. +1

[avaistheone1]

5. Makes me wonder if those experiences you speak of were a result of weed being laced with

something else...

[raouldukelives]

14. I haven't noticed that effect with the people I've seen that use it.

Alcohol on the other hand. Man, I've seen some people really flip out. Combined with Vicodin or anti-psychotics it can get ugly fast.
Those same drugs combined with marijuana do not produce anywhere near the same level of excitement in my experience. Mostly the direct opposite.
But of course it ain't good for any schizophrenic to be self-medicating. In all honesty though, the drugs I fear the most are the ones prescribed to them.

[malaise]

8. Sorry- people with mental issues should not smoke week

anymore than they should drink rum or other alcohol.

[limpyhobbler]

9. Really? Because it is used for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, & maybe Bipolar

In some states doctors prescribe medical mj for these conditions.

If you are aware of some study that demonstrates marijuana turns people into killers, please share it. Even if there is some study that shows people with schizophrenia are turned into killers by marijuana, that would also be of interest.

I will start out by assuming that marijuana does not make people into killers but if I see some proof that contradicts that then I can change my mind maybe.

[AlphaCentauri]

15. The face eating cannibal in Florida used to smoke pot

The naked Florida man who chewed off the face of another man last month in a zombie-like cannibal attack used marijuana but not "bath salts" as police had suspected,

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-06-27/us/us_florida-cannibal-attack_1?_s=PM:US

[sendero]

7. 100 mg of vicodin?

Does that mean 100mg of hydrocodone? That is a LOT.

Several times any prescribed therapeutic dose. Better outlaw drugs.

[geckosfeet]

10. Errrmm - many drugs are illegal. Purchase of prescription drugs is illegal without a prescription.

[HopeHoops]

11. 100 mg of hydrocodone is a pretty serious amount. I've taken it in much smaller doses.

It's a Schedule III drug and not as strong as the oxycodone (Schedule II) I'm on now. I don't consider it a good high. It just takes away the pain. But 100 mg is a shitload of either. It's not just an altered state, it's tripped out to the point of incoherency. And no, the hallucinations are not rare - they're normal. That's the main reason I don't like having to take it. Both are in the "don't even THINK about driving" category.

[AlphaCentauri]

16. Also we don't know for how long he had taken it

I heard that it vicotin is very addictive.

[HopeHoops]

17. It's not only addictive (as all opiods are) but it builds up in the system - half-life of 6 hours.

[obamanut2012]

12. "Holmes, a beer drinker..."

Never says that, does it?

So, pot caused him to do this?



Ridiculous.

[cthulu2016]

13. Saddly, his "subjective experience" was objective for everyone else.

[Chorophyll]

18. Thing is, regardless of what drugs he might have been using the night of the shooting,

he had this planned out in advance, and had enough presence of mind to boobytrap his apartment.

So there are issues here apart from drug usage.