EXCLUSIVE: Prince's former drug dealer tells how the legend spent $40,000 at a time on six-month sup

The London Daily Mail ^ | 16:18 EST, 23 April 2016 | By Ryan Parry and Emma Foster and Martin Gould

[drewh]

Prince's former drug dealer has revealed the full extent of the late-star's secret drug addiction - telling how the superstar was hooked on powerful opiates for over 25 years.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online, the performer's long-time dealer - who asked to be named only as Doctor D - revealed the singer would spend up to $40,000 a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches - both highly addictive opioid pain killers.

Prince, who was found dead on Thursday at his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was secretly cremated in an intimate ceremony at a nondescript funeral home in Minneapolis shortly after an autopsy was completed on Friday, Radar reports.

Prince's sister Tyka Nelson and another family member reportedly spent a few minutes saying goodbye at the First Memorial Waterston Chapel before the musician was cremated.

His death came just days after sources claimed he overdosed on the opiate Percocet.

Doctor D said the musician, who he described as 'majorly addicted', regularly bought drugs from him between 1984 and 2008.

The dealer, often to the stars, said Prince suffered crippling stage fright and could not get on stage and perform without the drugs - but had a phobia of doctors so could not obtain a prescription legally. Tragically, Doctor D suggests it could have been a physician that unknowingly contributed to Prince's death - by prescribing strong pain killers to the singer for his hip condition without knowing the extent of his secret opiate addiction.

[Popman]

People don’t take Opioids to avoid pain.

Not entirely true...

After my knee surgery, the doctor prescribed a 10 day supply of Percocet...

Quit taking them after three days...

I felt the hooks digging in...

Switched to Aleve...took the maximum dose....darn better than being hooked on drugs...

[Paladin2]

Lotsa 60's "artists" checked out in their twenties.

Prince apparently did a good job of stretching it out. ( Though I'll just note that after listening to all sorts of Prince music made available in the media in the last few days, he still doesn't "speak" to me...)

[Paladin2]

Hey, U gotta a problem with sex, drugs and R&R? ;-)

[trisham]

What are opioids?

Opioids are medications that relieve pain. They reduce the intensity of pain signals reaching the brain and affect those brain areas controlling emotion, which diminishes the effects of a painful stimulus. Medications that fall within this class include hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (e.g., Kadian, Avinza), codeine, and related drugs. Hydrocodone products are the most commonly prescribed for a variety of painful conditions, including dental and injury-related pain. Morphine is often used before and after surgical procedures to alleviate severe pain. Codeine, on the other hand, is often prescribed for mild pain. In addition to their painrelieving properties, some of these drugs—codeine and diphenoxylate (Lomotil) for example—can be used to relieve coughs and severe diarrhea.

https://www.drugabuse.gov/.../opioids

[StCloudMoose]

yea, this is the person I remember. Prince is not a hero in my book. when he came up with that symbol for his name, he was off the deep end

[Paladin2]

Now, if Islamists were the highest concentration of druggies, I be down with the suggestion.

[freepersup]

The problem with opiates used medicinally is that over time a tolerance is reached, requiring a higher dose, for the desired effect. Eventually, for some, a threshold is reached that proves fatal. My sister is trying to get there.

She pesters her doctor for dosage increases at every visit. He refuses, so she just takes more pills. She has some kind of counterfeit way of obtaining additional pills, bridging her supply deficiency until her prescription gets refilled.

[2CAVTrooper]

And yet Keith Richards of the Rolling Bones is somehow still alive.

And if they ever cremate him, it would make Nagasaki look like an M-80 going off.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

What a waste of talent and life.

I met a woman whose son was a major high school sports star - starting on the varsity squad as a freshman. He did amazingly well, and got full ride college recruitment. Towards the end of high school he began to have some issues (I think depression), and admitted to his parents that he’d been using opiates since the first game that he played with the varsity as a freshman. He was very nervous before that first game, and one of the seniors on the team gave him a prescription narcotic, telling him that it would ‘relax him’ for the game. He was 13-14 yrs old at that time. He started using them regularly, and actually played just about every game on opiates.

His parents put him into rehab, and worked very hard with him to turn all of this around. He eventually took the scholarship, but relapsed - bought some narcotics from whomever, and died of an overdose as a freshman in college.

My point is that once down this path, it is a very difficult one to leave. Not impossible, but difficult.

[trisham]

So true. Richards is a freak of nature.

[MaxistheBest]

Author: Nazi soldiers were high on crystal meth in WWII

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/09/16/author-nazi-soldiers-were-high-crystal-meth-wwii-hitler/32493351/

[Larry Lucido]

So did the police take prints? (Get it? “Prints”? “Prince”? Ah, never mind.)

[goodnesswins]

Part of me thinks some people have a death wish

[SkyDancer]

Somehow I got Prince and Queen mixed up. Never could figure out the two. OTOH, I like music prior to the mid-70’s backwards; reason is I’ve helped my grandad take apart several old jukeboxes that still had the records, over five hundred 45’s ... there were some original Beatles 45’s from that era and old Elvis’ stuff. Too many to mention.

[Lurker]

“1. Making it legal would open up an even larger black market”

Logic is not your strong suit. Further conversation on the subject is impossible.

Best of luck. You’re going to need it.

L

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Quote: I don’t know country music but it dates earlier than rock n roll. I wonder if any were heavy drinkers.

Hank Williams... an alcoholic who also took morphine to ease the pain of an old back injury. He was fired from the Grand Ole Opry and missed a number of shows both there, and while touring. When he died of a heart attack in the back seat of his Cadillac, he had alcohol, chloral hydrate and morphine in his system. The autopsy also showed that he had also been severely beaten and kicked in the groin.

Hank Williams was a Christian but could not get the 'monkey off his back'. That monkey finally killed him. You may know of his son, Bocephus, from the old Monday Night Football theme "All My Rowdy Friends are Here on Monday Night"

[Paladin2]

There is SO much music out there, from way old stuff to current releases. I like the melodic and harmonic stuff, old or new. Prince just doesn’t fit in that for me. (Not that his stuff is Grade C Rap....)

[Hot Tabasco]

the performer's long-time dealer - who asked to be named only as Doctor D -

I'm a pimp, I'm a drug dealer so just call me Dr. D and give me my 15 minutes of fame. I can score big from there with TV appearances.........

[Carriage Hill]

“...if you can afford drugs, you’re much more likely to become an addict.”

Cocaine is God’s way of telling you that you have too much money. (Robin Williams, 80s routine)

[Hot Tabasco]

More evidence

From who, some dude who claims to being a drug dealer?..........Yea, right. Come to Jesus moments are striking drug dealers all across this country following Prince's death........

I prefer to wait several months after all is settled before I believe some attention whore drug dealer............