Prince toxicology report confirms fatal levels of dangerous opioids
The autopsy report for legendary singer Prince determined that an ‘exceedingly high’ level of the opioid fentanyl was detected in his body when he died April 21, 2016.
Six weeks following The Purple One’s death, it was confirmed that fentanyl, a drug known to be 50 times more powerful than heroin, was, in fact, Prince’s cause of death following an accidental overdose.
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Now the DailyMail reports that those toxicology documents, previously kept private, were obtained by the Associated Press and shed light on how Prince wound up unconscious in the elevator of his Paisley Park home.
On August 22, it was reported that two dozen pills had been found next to Prince’s bed in an Aleve bottle, with the label “Watson 385”. The Associated Press said at the time that it was indicative of pills that contained “a mix of acetaminophen and hydrocodone,” although one of the pills tested positive for fentanyl.
The report, according to Daily Mail, states that the level of concentration of fentanyl in Prince’s blood was 67.8 micrograms per liter (levels of 58 micrograms per liter have resulted in death). Prince’s toxicity was reportedly six times the dosage of expected fatality.
The lead prosecutor on the case surrounding Prince’s death reportedly said that he will be reviewing documents and determining if anyone will be charged with the mishandling of these drugs “in the near future.”
Prince lives on
While the singer’s untimely death shocked fans around the world, his music and artistry lives on.
Afshin Shahidi was Prince‘s private photographer for 20 years, and he considered the late singer to be a good friend.
Now, over a year after Prince’s passing, the photographer, who is also the father of Yara Shahidi, is releasing never-before-seen images of Prince in a new book, “Prince: A Private View.”
“The album covers for me … are what I was most proud of,” Shahidi told ABC News. “I still, to this day, when I see the album cover, I think, ‘Wow … I took that picture.’ Makes me really happy.”
For example, Shahidi shared a picture of Prince watching his own performance on a monitor and explained that it was common to see the artist do things like that as he critiqued his own performance as well as that of the band.
“He was a perfectionist, and he expected it from everyone around him,” Shahidi recalled.
