For what it is worth...

My sister has lupus and renal tubular acidosis. Her body produces kidney stones at an alarming rate. She has been dependant on prescription medication for pain for over twenty years. In the last two years or so, the FDA (the USA's goverment body that regulates prescription drugs) made it more difficult to get refills of any opioid pill. You used to able to get refills on an automated system without having to see your doctor each time you refilled. The new laws led to more hoops to jump through for people in chronic pain.

She has been effected by the extra strain of more mandatory office visits.

Sometimes people in pain, who have a prescription for a 30 day supply of pills, may take two pills rather than one to get through a particular physical event. This leads to coming up short on pills and not being able to refill until 28 days after the date the prescription was filled. (There is also a small percentage of pharmacists that have no compassion for anyone trying to refill a prescription "early." A pharmacist that shames people in need is a low low level of human - but that's another story for another day.)

During this uncomfortable period (when a patient is short on pills) it is not uncommon for family members or friends to want to do anything to help the person suffering from pain. Some offer to "help" by loaning some meds they had leftover from whatever (a surgery or something). Or someone more aggressive might try to find some meds from a source outside of a doctor.

In California, around the end of April, there was a string of deaths related to pills that people thought were NORCO. Instead, the pills were laced with Fentanyl.

I'm just saying let us not assume that Prince knew he was taking Fentayl.

Here is a link to a story from the L.A. Times from April 26, 2016

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-norco-fentanyl-overdose-deaths-rise-to-14-problem-spreads-to-bay-area-20160426-story.html

bobsteezy said:

For what it is worth...

My sister has lupus and renal tubular acidosis. Her body produces kidney stones at an alarming rate. She has been dependant on prescription medication for pain for over twenty years. In the last two years or so, the FDA (the USA's goverment body that regulates prescription drugs) made it more difficult to get refills of any opioid pill. You used to able to get refills on an automated system without having to see your doctor each time you refilled. The new laws led to more hoops to jump through for people in chronic pain.

She has been effected by the extra strain of more mandatory office visits.

Sometimes people in pain, who have a prescription for a 30 day supply of pills, may take two pills rather than one to get through a particular physical event. This leads to coming up short on pills and not being able to refill until 28 days after the date the prescription was filled. (There is also a small percentage of pharmacists that have no compassion for anyone trying to refill a prescription "early." A pharmacist that shames people in need is a low low level of human - but that's another story for another day.)

During this uncomfortable period (when a patient is short on pills) it is not uncommon for family members or friends to want to do anything to help the person suffering from pain. Some offer to "help" by loaning some meds they had leftover from whatever (a surgery or something). Or someone more aggressive might try to find some meds from a source outside of a doctor.

In California, around the end of April, there was a string of deaths related to pills that people thought were NORCO. Instead, the pills were laced with Fentanyl.

I'm just saying let us not assume that Prince knew he was taking Fentayl.

Here is a link to a story from the L.A. Times from April 26, 2016

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-norco-fentanyl-overdose-deaths-rise-to-14-problem-spreads-to-bay-area-20160426-story.html

Sorry to hear about your sister, this must be a very difficult time for you and your family. And thank you for sharing this information in connection with Prince, I find it very interesting.

"Just micrograms (of Fentanyl) can make a difference between life and death. It's that serious," said DEA Special Agent John Martin, who is based in San Francisco. An amount the size of a few grains of sand of fentanyl can kill you. "All you have to do is touch it. It can be absorbed through the skin and the eyes."

bobsteezy said:

"Just micrograms (of Fentanyl) can make a difference between life and death. It's that serious," said DEA Special Agent John Martin, who is based in San Francisco. An amount the size of a few grains of sand of fentanyl can kill you. "All you have to do is touch it. It can be absorbed through the skin and the eyes."

Post here http://prince.org/msg/7/427047