Tom Petty Overdosed on Illicit Fentanyl Analogues and Antianxiety Medications

February 22, 2018

By Davidwbaker [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tom Petty, who died in October, had illicit fentanyl compounds in his system, reports CNN.  According to the LA County Medical Examiner, his bloodstream not only contained an assortment of prescription medications, but also acetyl fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl, both of which are fentanyl analogues not used for any medical treatment.

As Pat Anson, editor of the Pain News Network explained in her story on Tom Petty, “the coroner also listed two chemical cousins of fentanyl: acetyl fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl. They are not prescription drugs, but are illegal synthetic opioids increasingly appearing on the black market in counterfeit medication.”

Petty is the third musician and entertainer in the last 2 years that has died as a result of counterfeit drugs containing fentanyl.  Pop star Prince, and young rapper Lil Peep both had illicit fentanyl found in their systems when they died.

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