By Jonathan Harvey | BlendrNews.com

The Tumbler Ridge massacre in British Columbia is more than a tragedy. It’s a warning. 18-year-old Jesse Strang (or Van Rootselaar), a biological male who identified as female after beginning to transition at age 12, systematically murdered eight people, injuring 27 others, before taking his own life.

Police records reveal prior mental health interventions, including [for] self-harm, but medications and therapies remain shielded, likely in deference to gender affirming care sensitivities.

But this is not an isolated case. It fits a disturbing pattern.

Transgender identifying individuals undergoing early transition, frequently prescribed antidepressants to address associated depression, have emerged as perpetrators in mass violence at rates 10 to 25 times higher per capita. Now, this is not about vilifying a population. It’s about the intersection of big pharma, gender ideology, Liberal policies, and mass media manipulation.

Liberal ideologies push rapid gender affirming interventions and pharmaceutical solutions over rigorous long-term mental health care. In the aftermath of tragedies, the narrative almost immediately shifts to gun control, where law-abiding citizens are demonized, pharmaceutical profits are protected, and radical gender frameworks are shielded from scrutiny.

And of course, media outlets play a complicit role, in fact, perhaps one of the worst. They framed the shooter as female, erasing biological sex, minimizing psychiatric history, and redirecting discussions of motive. The press humanizes perpetrators, while marginalizing victims. And any discussion of hormone therapies or antidepressants is quickly labeled hate or misinformation. By prioritizing ideology over facts, the media distorts public understanding and perpetuates this problem.

So let’s look at some of this so-called misinformation. The rise in youth gender dysphoria diagnoses did not occur in isolation. Since the late 2010s, some clinics report increases as high as 4,000%, coinciding with Liberal policies and the mainstream adoption of gender-affirming care. Hormone therapies, frequently prescribed off-label, generate several billion dollars annually and are projected to reach five billion annually by 2030.

Antidepressants prescribed alongside hormones, fuel dependency, and further skew financial incentives. A 2025 study found 62% of transgender adults were on antidepressants at diagnosis, with 40% specifically on SSRIs [Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors]. Additionally, UCSF [University of California, San Francisco] clinical guidelines note that estrogen can worsen depression, progesterone can increase irritability, and while testosterone may improve some symptoms, it exacerbates many others.

Despite this information, Liberal policies have expanded youth access, often bypassing parental consent, while ignoring both science and European caution. If you don’t think so, just look up the GIDS clinic in the UK.

A 2019 Swedish population study of 9.7 million people found transgender individuals were 3.4 to 3.9 times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants and six times more likely to have mood or anxiety disorders. Post-intervention treatment needs declined slightly, but remains significantly elevated. Transgender individuals represent 0.5 to 1.6% of the population, yet they’re overrepresented in school and non-gang mass shootings, with rates again, 10 to 25 times higher per capita. Between 2018 and 2026, a dozen high-profile attacks involved transgender or non-binary perpetrators, including Tumbler Ridge, Minneapolis in ’25, Nashville in 2023, and Colorado Springs in 2022.

Approximately 58% of transgender patients have psychiatric comorbidities compared with just 13.6% in the general population, and surveys of detransitioners indicate that 70% report worsening depression linked to post-hormone effects. In many cases, that’s because hormones induce a second puberty, triggering mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and depressive symptoms. Additional data shows that SSRIs amplify risk even further.

A 2020 Swedish study of 785,337 people showed a 26% higher incident rate of violent crime during SSRI treatment, rising to 35% among 15 to 24-year-olds, with the risk persisting after discontinuation, which suggests SSRIs actually reprogram you to be more violent, potentially forever.

Longitudinal data show SSRI use in transgender populations rising from 17.9% to 29.2% over the last five years. And transgenderism aside, historical precedent reinforces the risk of SSRIs: Columbine’s Eric Harris, Thurston High’s Kip Kinkel, and Red Lake’s Jeff Weise all had psychiatric distress and SSRI exposure.

So let’s cut the crap and call a spade a spade. Rushed youth transitions have to be paused. SSRI prescriptions have to be scrutinized. Reflexive gun control narratives have to be rejected. Evidence-based therapy, parental involvement, and long-term studies have to be prioritized. Federal investigations into pharmaceutical lobbying should be initiated, and we need to focus on mental health first, putting ideology last.

Every ignored statistic, every misreported fact, and every unexamined policy only make another Tumbler Ridge more likely. And if we’re being perfectly honest, all of the children’s lives, both victims and perpetrators, depend on breaking this cycle.

Originally published on Instagram @itsjonathanharvey