Prince Didn’t Know He Was Taking the Fentanyl That Killed Him

No criminal charges will be filed in the star's death, according to County Attorney.

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Prince Didn’t Know He Was Taking the Fentanyl That Killed Him

Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose after taking counterfeit Vicodin pills that were laced with fentanyl, according to the County Attorney in Carver, Minn.

At a press conference on Thursday, Carver County attorney Mark Metz said that the 57-year-old pop legend “had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him.”

Metz also announced that there will be no criminal files charged in Prince’s death because, he said, “There is no evidence showing how he obtained those counterfeit pills, and no evidence that those around him knew.”

In March, a toxicology report from Prince’s autopsy obtained by the Associated Press showed that he had an “exceedingly high” concentration of fentanyl in his body when he died on April 21, 2016. Shortly after the death, a Minnesota medical examiner confirmed that Prince had died of an overdose of “self-administered fentanyl,” a synthetic opioid that is described as being 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 40 to 50 times more potent than heroin. Prince, who struggled with opioid addiction near the end of his life, had been found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park, his home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minn. According to a CNN report, court documents unsealed last year revealed that none of the medications found in Prince’s home had been prescribed to him. At the time, an attorney for Prince, L. Londell McMillan, told the AP that the singer was “not on any drugs that would be any cause for concern.”

According to the CNN report, Prince’s doctor has agreed to pay $30,000 to the U.S. to settle civil allegations that he prescribed drugs to someone else knowing that Prince would take them. Dr. Michael Schulenberg prescribed the painkiller Percocet to Prince, but put the prescription in the name of Kirk Johnson, the singer’s former drummer.

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