KURT COBAIN 1967�1994

People across the world were stunned by the news of Kurt Cobain�s sudden and shocking suicide in 1994. Widely hailed as the �John Lennon of his generation,� Cobain�s name was also synonymous with disillusionment and unhappiness�he had spoken, written lyrics and sung about suicide. He was the �poet of pain.� Yet one question echoed around the world� Why?

Cobain was already a long-standing victim of psychiatric-styled �help,� where solutions are as desperate as the situations they continually fail to resolve. The truth is that from his preschool years, those who had diagnosed him as �hyperactive� had placed Cobain in a chemical straitjacket. An energetic, talented and creative child who liked to draw and sing Beatles tunes, Cobain was one of the growing wave of children who, since the 1960s and 1970s, have been exposed to addictive, mind-altering drugs under the guise of �educational help.� Cobain was a Ritalin child.

But what does that mean? What is hyperactivity? And exactly what is Ritalin? Leading pediatric neurologist, Dr. Fred Baughman Jr., says hyperactivity is �an illusion, a contrivance [and] a deception.� Without a shred of scientific evidence, psychiatrists claim the symptoms of this �disorder� include: often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat; often leaves seat in a classroom; has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly; is often �on the go� and often talks excessively.

Ritalin is an amphetamine-like drug that in children reportedly acts as a tranquilizer. It is a Schedule II drug in the same abuse category as opium, cocaine and morphine. Highly addictive, withdrawal from it can cause suicide. Side effects include: loss of appetite, weight loss, inability to stay asleep, heart palpitations, drowsiness, joint pain, nausea, chest pain, hallucinations and can increase bizarre and abnormal behavior. It is also more potent than cocaine and medical studies show that it can predispose a child to later cocaine use.

In Cobain's case, the drug kept him awake. Consequently, sedatives were prescribed to counteract this effect. Despite psychiatrists� claims that stimulants can help a child study, Cobain remained a poor student who dropped out of high school.

After years of taking addictive prescription drugs, the progression to street drugs easily followed. Cobain�s battle with heroin addiction would become widely known over the years, as he repeatedly tried and failed to resolve his dependency.

Compounding this were untreated chronic medical conditions that affected him his entire life�including a curvature of his spine that was aggravated by the weight of his guitar around his neck and a �burning, nauseous� stomach that often drove him to feelings of suicide. Abdominal pain is a side effect of Ritalin. Cobain used heroin because it �quenched the fire in his gut.�

Cobain's drug problem became critical. In desperation, wife Courtney Love and several friends enrolled Cobain in a psychiatric drug recovery center. Thirty-six hours after admission, he fled from the program and in a small room above his garage in a quiet Seattle neighborhood, ended his life with a single shotgun blast to his head. Heroin and the addictive psychiatric tranquilizer Valium were found in his bloodstream.

In his suicide note, he alluded to two things that led to his fatal decision�the stomach pain that had haunted him for years, and his agony over his music, about which he wrote, �I don't have the passion anymore.� Chemically nullified, the music was gone and with this, Kurt Cobain was deprived of his prime reason for existing.

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