Prince: Traveled Six Miles For Prescription Pills To Hide Addiction?

Prince traveled six miles for prescription pills the night before his death.

TMZ reports there are eight pharmacies located between his home, Paisley Park, and the pharmacy he visited that night. People have speculated that he did this to avoid a paper trail that would reveal an addiction to prescription pain pills. The photo taken of him visiting Walgreens by TMZ happened to be the one located six miles from his home, which piqued the attention of police since there were multiple pharmacies within a mile of his home.

Pharmacies, in an attempt to more carefully monitor overuse of prescription pain pills, often “red-flag” people who fill multiple prescriptions of controlled substances. There are some who question the possibility that Prince traveled to other locations in order to avoid such red flags. He visited Walgreens chain pharmacies four times in the last week of his life. Strangely, however, it wasn’t always the same location. He in fact passed by several other pharmacies on the night before he died to go to the location in Minnetonka, which is six miles from his home.

Prince’s family members, who choose to remain unidentified, have expressed concern that he might have traveled to multiple pharmacies and perhaps even various names in order to stay under the radar. People who fill pain pill prescriptions from more than one doctor often go to great lengths to avoid being discovered and risk losing access to those medications. It has not been confirmed that he was addicted to pain pills or that he was avoiding detection, but when family member’s suggestions are added to police reports that Prince was found with opioid pain pills on him and at his home, it definitely brings cause for concern.

It’s been widely speculated for several years that Prince suffered from severe hip pain after years of jumping off various levels of his stage sets and doing splits and other stunts. Percocet, one of the medications that Prince is reported to have used, is one of several opioid-based pain pills. The most dangerous adverse reaction to opiates is respiratory suppression, which can lead to death. It’s been reported by TMZ that when Prince’s plane had to make an emergency stop a week prior to his death that he was given an antidote for pain pill overdose. Narcan, the name brand for the drug naloxone, is an opiate antagonist and can help to quickly reverse a narcotic overdose, as documented on Drugs.com. Pain management specialists in various parts of the country have begun prescribing the antagonist for home use, using care to teach the patients’ family members about its use. If Prince was on the pain medications for an extended period of time, it is highly possible he would’ve been given a prescription for Narcan. If so, those closest to him would’ve been educated on its use. When a person is taking prescription pain pills, it’s very important to observe for impaired respiratory status and administer naloxone immediately, and then seek immediate medical assistance. It is not known if Prince required the antidote on other occasions, or how many times.

On Thursday, police served one of the last Walgreens pharmacies Prince visited with a search warrant looking for clues to the reasons for his death. According to TMZ, they were there for several hours searching through their records for a list of doctors Prince used, medications he was prescribed, as well as other names he possibly went by in order to obtain the pills. It is not clear if they’ve served warrants on all the Walgreens locations he visited, which were anywhere from one to six miles from his home.

One of the main factors that captured the attention of authorities is Prince’s use of multiple pharmacy locations to obtain his prescriptions. Chain pharmacies have been known to refuse to fill narcotic pain medications for people who have been receiving multiple prescriptions for them. It is unknown at this time if Prince traveled to any other pharmacy chains or individual pharmacies other than Walgreens, but the information, according to She Knows, that he traveled past several pharmacies to visit one six miles away is most definitely a concern that won’t be eased in the minds of police or fans until toxicology reports have been received.

Do you believe media reports of Prince being addicted to pain medications or possible overdose? Or has he been unfairly targeted with rumors due to his celebrity status? Please sound off in the comments section below.

[Photo by Kevin Winters/Getty Images]