The newly published study analysed the pre-crime use of prescription drugs among all persons convicted of a homicide in Finland between 2003 and 2011. The registers used were the Finnish Homicide Database of the In-stitute of Criminology and Legal Policy, and the Finnish Prescription Register of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela. After confounding factors were controlled for, the results show that the use of anti-psychotics was not associated with a significantly increased risk of committing a homicide, whereas the use of anti-depressants was associated with a slightly elevated risk (+31%), and the use of benzodiazepines (drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia) with a significantly elevated risk (+45%). The study found, rather surprisingly, that the highest increase in the risk of committing a homicide was associated with opiate painkillers (+92%) and anti-inflammatory painkillers (+206%). In persons under 26 years of age, the highest increase in the risk of commit-ting a homicide was associated with opiate painkillers (+223%) and benzodiazepines (+95%). An increase in the risk by, for example, 100% means that the risk doubles. Although the use of intoxicants was present in the ma-jority of the homicides, the differences between the drug groups could not be explained by simultaneous in-toxicant use.  Read more…