NATION : Hoffman Probe Won’t Reopen
The Bucks County coroner, ignoring calls from citizens groups, today said he has no intention of reopening the investigation into the suicide of political activist Abbie Hoffman.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights and the Prozac Survivors Support Group--both offshoots of the Church of Scientology--had asked the coroner to reopen the case after it was learned Hoffman took the controversial anti-depressant Prozac six weeks before his death.
Dr. Thomas Rosko ruled that Hoffman committed suicide on April 12, 1989, in Solebury Township by taking an overdose of the sedative phenobarbital and alcohol.
Hoffman, 52, had filled a prescription for Prozac before his death, but Rosko’s autopsy did not find any traces of the drug.
A Harvard study published in February found that 3 1/2% of Prozac users developed suicidal thoughts that lasted up to three months after taking the drug.
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