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It’s official: Prince died of an overdose from opioid painkillers, becoming the latest high-profile victim of America’s opioid epidemic.
Prince died unexpectedly at his home in Minnesota on April 21. According to the Associated Press, Prince died of an overdose from fentanyl, a highly potent opioid.
A law enforcement source told CNN’s Evan Perez in April that the entertainer was found with opioid medication at the time of his death. Investigators so far haven’t found any indication that Prince had a valid prescription for the recovered opioid medications
The medical examiner’s report, which was released on Twitter, said Prince weighed 112 pounds and was 63 inches tall. He was wearing a black cap, shirt, pants and socks and a gray undershirt, the report said.
Since his death, information has emerged about the entertainer’s alleged abuse of prescription drugs.
An attorney for Prince’s half-siblings said they revealed the singer had an addiction to Percocet decades before he died. One half-sibling said Prince started using the drug to help him deal with the rigors of performing, not for recreational use.
A law enforcement source told CNN that investigators found prescription opioid medication on him and in his Minnesota home.
The day before Prince died, his team called an eminent opioid addiction specialist in California seeking urgent help for the singer, an attorney working for the specialist and his son said.
The specialist, Dr. Howard Kornfeld, couldn’t get there immediately so he sent his son, Andrew Kornfeld, on an overnight flight to Minnesota. The goal was for the younger Kornfeld to help evaluate Prince’s health and encourage him to enter treatment for pain management and potential addiction issues, attorney William Mauzy told reporters.
But by the time Andrew Kornfeld arrived at the singer’s Paisley Park complex on the morning of April 21, it was too late. He and two Prince representatives found the 57-year-old entertainer unresponsive in an elevator. Andrew Kornfeld was the person who called 911, Mauzy said.
Authorities have also said the investigation into Prince’s death is a criminal investigation. It was not immediately clear if Kornfeld is the subject of a separate investigation.
Federal prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration are investigating how Prince obtained prescription medications and from whom, the agencies said.
Agencies/Canadajournal
