Nancy Churchill says it’s time to listen to the voices of youth and detransitioners, who are showing us in unmistakable ways that the system is failing them

Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric

Something toxic is happening in America’s youth culture, and it’s not just the rising violence. It’s the deadly cocktail of substances and medical experiments colliding in the lives of our children. Marijuana, SSRIs, ADHD stimulants, and sex hormones are marketed as benign — or even lifesaving. In reality, they’re a combustible mix fueling despair, psychosis, and rage.

Robert “Robin” Westman: A tragic case study

The Minneapolis Catholic school shooter, Robert “Robin” Westman, is the embodiment of this chaos. His life was marked by instability, drugs, and gender confusion long before the massacre. In his own words, Westman warned his peers: “Gender and weed f—ed up my head. I wish I never tried experimenting with either. Don’t let your kids smoke weed or change gender until they are like seventeen.”

Instead of receiving real help for severe depression, Westman was funneled into a highly medicalized fantasy. He later confessed, “I’m tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself.” These cries for help went unheeded. Instead, drug culture, confusion, and despair were normalized — and ended in bloodshed.

The Marijuana Myth

Politicians have been eager to tout marijuana as harmless, even profitable. But the truth is uglier. As the New York Post editorialized: “Medical research in recent years keeps producing fresh evidence strongly suggesting that heavy marijuana use exacerbates other mental-health issues, perhaps making young men five times more likely to become schizophrenic.”

Robin Westman’s dependence on pot is one more warning against the reckless rush to normalize weed. It’s not just a harmless vice. It’s a destabilizer of fragile minds.

The ADHD Pipeline

Before many kids ever touch marijuana or SSRIs, they are already placed on ADHD drugs. In U.S. classrooms, stimulants are the default answer for restless or distracted children. The most common is methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, etc.), though amphetamine-based drugs are also widely prescribed. These stimulants are considered “first-line” treatments because they work quickly and in many cases improve focus.

But stimulants are powerful psychoactive chemicals. They alter dopamine and norepinephrine systems in the brain — the same pathways linked to mood, aggression, and addiction. Non-stimulant options like atomoxetine or guanfacine exist, but they’re rarely the first choice. That means millions of kids begin their journey through adolescence already tethered to mind-altering drugs. When layered with SSRIs, hormones, and marijuana, the stage is set for dangerous instability.

SSRIs and the violence question

Then there’s the role of antidepressants. Two massive studies have shown that SSRIs are linked to increased violence and homicidal behavior. Nicolas Hulscher warns: “As autistic transgender school shooters multiply, RFK Jr. is probing whether SSRIs — used by 40% of trans individuals — are fueling the bloodshed.”

The pattern is too striking to ignore. Instead of asking whether psychiatric drugs are stabilizing troubled youth, we must face the possibility they are pushing some over the edge.

The hormone gamble

The strongest justification for “gender-affirming care” has always been the suicide myth — the claim that without puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, kids will kill themselves. But the research now exposes that argument as false. Law professor David Smolin summarizes the evidence: “The weight of medical research indicates that pediatric medical transition does not reduce suicide or suicidality, and may even increase pediatric suicide and suicidality; further, prohibitions of pediatric medical transition do not increase suicide.”

This isn’t lifesaving care — it’s a dangerous experiment on vulnerable children. Instead of reducing despair, the drugs and hormones may be fueling it.

Even in the case of Robin Westman, the tragic Minneapolis shooter, instability was tied not just to THC but to cross-sex hormones. As analyst Bryan Dean Wright observed, “Westman’s spiral illustrates the broader dangers of experimental gender affirming care.”

The reality is clear: hormones don’t heal broken kids. They magnify the chaos, leaving families and communities to deal with the deadly consequences.

Conclusion: Chaos by design

What do you get when you mix marijuana, SSRIs, ADHD stimulants, and sex hormones in fragile teenagers? A deadly brew.

The research proves it: marijuana fuels psychosis, SSRIs are linked to violence, stimulants alter developing brains, and cross-sex hormones may actually increase the risk of suicide. These are not treatments — they are accelerants poured on already fragile minds.

The tragedies confirm it: Robin Westman’s own words admitted that “gender and weed f—ed up my head.” He was not saved by weed, hormones or by psychiatry’s prescriptions. He was destroyed by them — and others were destroyed with him.

Parents, pastors, policymakers: This is your wake-up call. Ask hard questions of the doctors, schools, and politicians who normalize this chemical cocktail. Demand evidence, not ideology. Insist on real help for struggling kids — community, faith, family, and hope — not quick fixes that create lifelong harm.

It’s time to listen to the voices of youth and detransitioners, who are showing us in unmistakable ways that the system is failing them.

Because if we don’t change course, more young lives will be lost, and more families shattered, by the deadly brew of drugs and hormones masquerading as care.

Nancy Churchill is a writer and educator in rural eastern Washington State, and the chair of the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own. Dangerous Rhetoric is available on Substack, X, and Rumble

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