We’re coming up on the two-year anniversary of Prince passing away.
It still seems impossible to believe, but the legendary musician died at the age of 57 in April of 2016.
Music fans around the world are still mourning his demise.
We learned several weeks after Prince left us that he died of an opiod overdose.
Following a few days in the hospital due to flu-like symptoms at the time, the singer was released to his home in Minnesota that spring…
… where he was eventually found unconscious in the elevator of his famous Paisley Park mansion.
The DEA found prescription bottles in Prince’s possession shortly after his death, with information later coming out that revealed Prince was prescribed heavy doses of Oxycodone just six days before he died.
In addition to the medication found in a suitcase of the artist’s, investigators also discovered opioids in various parts of Paisley Park; and also stored in containers other than pill vials, including vitamin bottles.
Simply put, there were drugs EVERYwhere inside of Prince’s home.
And now we actually have new information about the drug that most likely, most directly led to Prince passing away.
The Associated Press has made public a toxicology report that details the levels of fentanyl flowing through the star’s body on the day he died.
According to this report, the concentration of fentanyl in Prince’s blood was 67.8 micrograms per liter.
What does this mean, exactly? Just how far above the norm is this figure?
The document notes others have died from as little as three micrograms per liter; and as high as 58.
So you don’t need to be a medical expert in order to understand that this was an extreme overdose.
However, the Associated Press did talk to a medical expert – Dr. Lewis Nelson of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School – who referred to the level of fentanyl in Prince’s blood “exceedingly high.”
This would be true even a patient in chronic pain.
Indeed, it is not believed that Prince committed suicide.
It is believed that he simply took far too much medication to deal with whatever health issues had been plaguing him at the time.
(For the record: Fentanyl is an opioid that is used as a pain medication, typically together with other medications, for anesthesia. It has a rapid onset and effects generally last less than an hour or two.
It is 50 times more powerful than heroin.)
No one has been charged in Prince’s death just yet, not the doctor(s) who prescribed the drug or anyone who may have worked for the singer who helped him obtain the medication.
Last week, the lead prosecutor in the county where Prince died said in a statement that he was reviewing law enforcement reports and would make a decision on whether to charge anyone “in the near future.”
May the artist continue to rest in peace.
