N.Y. Times: Prince Hid Opiate Addiction From Those Closest To Him

Prince (Michele Paccione/Shutterstock)

PRINCE's PAISLEY PARK home and recording studio were "strewn with a sizable amount of narcotic painkillers for which he had no prescription," according to a report in today's NEW YORK TIMES.and newly released court documents related to the investigation into the accidental opioid overdose that killed the music superstar last year.  

The documents do not reveal where PRINCE got the powerful opioid FENTANYL which killed him. They do show how he concealed his opioid addiction by mixing various prescription pills in bottles for everyday products like BAYER and ALEVE. In at least one instance, he procured an opiate prescription in the name of KIRK JOHNSON, a friend and employee since the 1980s who found him dead in the elevator in his home on APRIL 21st, 2016.

FENTANYL is often used to manufacture counterfeit pills that are sold on the black market as OXYCODONE and other pain relievers. Investigators have yet to charge anyone in the death, with those present at his home at the time of his death "providing inconsistent and, at times, contradictory statements.”

A prescription for OXYCODONE was filled for PRINCE -- in KIRK JOHNSON's name -- on the same day his private jet was forced to make an emergency landing in ILLINOIS after the singer overdosed mid-flight after a concert in ATLANTA. 

Among the additional evidence found at PAISLEY PARK was a suitcase with a name tag for “PETER BRAVESTRONG,” an alias used by PRINCE, containing several prescription bottles in JOHNSON’s name. 

Among the drugs seized were 20-and-a-half white pills labeled “Watson 853,” a mix of ACETAMINOPHEN and HYDROCODONE that were found in an ALEVE bottle. Investigators later found that the pills contained FENTANYL, but they have not given any indication as to whether those pills have been tied to his death. 

Also interviewed was the singer JUDITH HILL, who was in a romantic relationship with PRINCE and was on board during the aborted flight.

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