Prince’s death from an overdose of the powerful opioid fentanyl is another example of the national opioid epidemic driven by prescription painkillers.
“This was a man in his 50s who may have been struggling with pain and took a very potent opioid analgesic and died accidentally from an overdose,” said Barbarajean Magnani, pathologist-in-chief at Tufts Medical Center who read a one-page autopsy report released on Thursday. “Celebrities bring it to our attention, but we see this every day. We have to re-examine the way we’re treating pain.”
Prescription opioid overdoses reached nearly 19,000 in 2014, the highest number on record. Total opioid overdoses surpassed 29,000 that year when combined with heroin, which some abusers switch to after becoming hooked on painkillers.
Photo: Reuters
Autopsy results released on Thursday show Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, but did not indicate whether the drug had been prescribed to him by a physician.
The 57-year-old singer was found dead on April 21 at his Minneapolis-area estate. Investigators have been reviewing whether Prince was prescribed drugs in the weeks before his death.
WHAT IS FENTANYL?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, 50 times more potent than heroin, that is responsible for a recent surge in overdose deaths in some parts of the country. It also has legitimate medical uses.
Doctors prescribe fentanyl for cancer patients with tolerance to other narcotics. It comes in skin patches, lozenges, nasal spray and tablets. Because of the risk of abuse, overdose and addiction, the Food and Drug Administration imposes tight restrictions on fentanyl; it is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance.
Some pharmaceutical fentanyl is illegally diverted to the black market, but most fentanyl used illicitly is manufactured in clandestine labs. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has tied fentanyl seizures to Mexican drug-trafficking groups. On the street, fentanyl is sold alone as powder, added to heroin or made into counterfeit OxyContin pills. Users do not always know when they are taking fentanyl, increasing the risk of fatal overdose.
The DEA issued a nationwide alert about fentanyl overdose in March last year.
More than 700 fentanyl-related overdose deaths were reported to the DEA in late 2013 and 2014. Since many coroners and state crime labs do not routinely test for fentanyl, the actual number of overdoses is probably much higher.
DEATH CHANGE ANYTHING?
Prince’s death will intensify efforts to educate doctors and patients about the risks of opioids, said Paul Wax, executive director of the American College of Medical Toxicology, an organization conducting research on how overdoses strain hospital emergency departments.
“The epidemic spares no one,” Wax said. “It affects the wealthy, the poor, the prominent and not prominent. That’s the nature of an epidemic.”
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