Counterfeit pill killed superstar, coroner reveals
UNITED STATES: Prince thought he was taking a common painkiller but instead ingested a counterfeit pill containing the dangerously powerful drug fentanyl, a Minnesota prosecutor has said in announcing that no charges will be filed over the musician’s death.
Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said yesterday Prince had suffered from pain for years and was addicted to pain medication. While some of the superstar’s associates might have enabled his drug habit and tried to protect his privacy, authorities found ‘‘no direct evidence that a specific person provided the fentanyl’’, he said.
‘‘In all likelihood, Prince had no idea that he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him.’’
Metz’s announcement came just hours after the US Attorney’s Office announced that a doctor who was accused of illegally prescribing an opioid for Prince had agreed to pay US$30,000 (NZ$41,400) to settle a civil violation of a federal drug law.
Michael Todd Schulenberg allegedly wrote a prescription for oxycodone in the name of Prince’s bodyguard, intending for the potent painkiller to go Prince. That prescription was not linked to the musician’s death.
Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound near Minneapolis on April 21, 2016. His death sparked a national outpouring of grief and prompted a joint investigation by Carver County and federal authorities.
An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.
Metz said several pills were found at the Paisley Park complex after Prince died, and many of them were not in their original pharmaceutical containers. Some were later determined to be counterfeit, and state and federal authorities had been investigating the source of the fentanyl for nearly two years.
‘‘We just don’t know where he got it,’’ Metz said. ‘‘We may never know. ... It’s pretty clear from the evidence that he did not know, and the people around him didn’t know, that he was taking fentanyl.’’
Metz’s announcement effectively closed the case.
Schulenberg’s attorney said Schulenberg settled the case to avoid the expense and uncertain outcome of litigation. The doctor admitted no facts or liability in the settlement, which includes stricter monitoring of his prescribing practices. He is not the target of a criminal investigation.
The likelihood of people buying pain pills on the street or online that turned out to be counterfeits laced with fentanyl was ‘‘extremely high’’, said Traci Green, a Boston University Medical Centre epidemiologist who is focusing on the US opioid epidemic. – AP has