Addiction & Recovery
Related: About this forumPrince's former dealer reveals the extent of his addictions to Fentanyl and Dilaudid
(Daily Mail is a tabloid, I know, so ymmv)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html
Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online, the performer's long-time dealer - who asked to be named only as Doctor D - revealed the singer would spend up to $40,000 a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches - both highly addictive opioid pain killers.
(snip)
Tragically, Doctor D suggests it could have been a physician that unknowingly contributed to Prince's death - by prescribing strong pain killers to the singer for his hip condition without knowing the extent of his secret opiate addiction.
(snip)
'The problem with Percocet is that it is an opiate mixed with Tylenol - but he would have been taking much more than the recommended dose because he had developed a tolerance to opiates over the years.
much more at the link...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html
When Eric Clapton was asked what it was like to be the best guitar player alive, he replied "Ask Prince"
R.I.P.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Apparently it's sometimes used to improve low quality product.
The patches, though, they're a different story. I think there's much more to learn, here. The former supplier says he wasn't a heroin user for all the time he knew him, though. I think the theory that he was on different meds from his usual cocktail might be the answer, here:
'He self medicated for years and was fine - so it wouldn't have been the opiates that killed him but the Tylenol.
'So perversely the doctors who thought they were helping him may have hurt him by prescribing Percocet.
'Also if they did have to give him a save shot when he overdosed like everybody is saying - that removes all traces of drugs from your system so he would have started to go into withdrawal and would have had to take a lot of drugs to feel okay again - which also could have killed him.
'You can't just stop taking these drugs when you have taken them for so long.
'But without knowing his drug history doctors wouldn't have known that.
'It explains why he was spotted looking nervous and pacing around at the pharmacy in the week before his death.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html#ixzz46inWEoX3
If the doctors had kept him in the hospital, he'd probably still be alive today.
I don't understand why a guy with medical issues and a recent hospitalization was left alone--he should have had someone attending him, even if he didn't like it.