Did Opioids Kill Prince? Why It's So Easy to Overdose

by David Willams, Senior Writer   |   April 29, 2016 06:28pm ET

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Exactly what caused Prince's sudden death last week is still unknown, but there have been reports that prescription painkillers were found with the singer-songwriter when he died.
Experts say there are a number of ways in which prescription opioids can be lethal, particularly if they are taken in combination with other drugs, or if someone starts using the drugs again after a period of sobriety. What's more, people are often not aware of just how easy it can be to overdose on these drugs, said Dr. Scott Krakower, assistant chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York. Krakower did not treat Prince and has not seen any of his medical records.
"Most people don't realize, until after they do it, what they've done," Krakower said.

Prescription opioids were found at the scene of Prince's death at his Paisley Park estate, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. And some sources have reported that, a week before Prince died, he was treated for an opioid overdose after his plane made an emergency landing in Illinois. However, these reports have not been confirmed officially, and his publicist has told news sources that the singer was ill with flu-like symptoms.

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Opioids affect the part of the brain that controls breathing, and large doses can slow breathing to the point where it is fatal, Krakower said.
It hasn't been confirmed that Prince was taking opioids, and if he was, it's not clear why he would have been doing so. Some people who take an opioid build up a tolerance to it and thus may feel that they need to take more and more of it to get the same "high." But their bodies often do not adapt quickly enough to the slower rate of breathing caused by the drug, which can lead to death, Krakower said.
In addition, if people are using other drugs that also have sedating effects, such as alcohol, the risk for life-threatening breathing problems is greater, Krakower said.
If people take a stimulant, like cocaine, along with opioids, the stimulant can mask the sedating effects of the opioid, so that people may not realize that they've taken an overdose of opioids, Krakower said. But when the stimulant wears off, the effects of the opioid kick in, and this may lead to fatal breathing problems, Krakower said.
Sometimes, if people have been through a period of remission of their addiction, they may relapse and overdose on a dose that they previously could tolerate, Krakower said. "You can be sober and take one round, and not realize that you can't take the same amount you used to take," he said.
Krakower said there has been a push to make the drug naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioids, more widely available, to increase the chances that the drug will be on hand when someone overdoses.
Deaths from accidental drug overdoses have skyrocketed in recent years, from 2,475 total deaths in the U.S. in 1979 to 38,675 total deaths in the U.S. in 2014, according to a recent study. The rise has been attributed, in part, to the increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers.

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