MySpace Suicide: Are Megan Meier's Meds to Blame?

Megan Meier was a 13-year-old girl who killed herself after being tricked by a fake MySpace boyfriend named "Josh." Josh, it turns out, was actually the parents of neighborhood child, playing a sadistic joke on the girl. Now Megan's parents are trying to push through measures to protect children online.

It's far too easy to blame MySpace for a child's suicide, since it's a new medium and an easy target for anger and frustration. But the fact is, kids have had to go through humiliation, rejection, and pain for a long time before MySpace ever existed. Megan could have just as easily been treated cruelly at school.

So why focus on MySpace? Could it be that the parents don't want to look at themselves and how they were managing Megan's depression? (Could they be in denial about their own role in creating her depression in the first place?)

So who's the real culprit here? I have a funny feeling it's the meds. And why aren't people talking about this more?

There's an astonishing lack of outcry against the medications Megan was taking. We already know that anti-depressants can increase the risk of suicides among children and teens. So why aren't the parents questioning the drug companies that sold these medications to them? Why isn't the media exploring that angle of the story?

To me, big pharma is what needs better regulation, not MySpace.