Rolling Stone have up a new article on the opioid epidemic taking the lives of Prince and Tom Petty. Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky is quoted in the article, as Chris taking taking the prescription drug Ativan just before he died by suicide in May 2017. Vicky called out ‘rock docs’ for how they handle prescribing drugs.
“The only way to address this is that doctors need to take an active part,” she says. “It needs to be part of medical training. How are they getting it? In the case of musicians, they don’t even have to buy street drugs. Too many doctors want to be ‘rock docs’ and be ‘in’ and make people happy.”
Cornell has started the Addiction Resource Center, a website dedicated to her late husband that aims to help substance abusers.
The article also discusses fentanyl, which killed Prince.
“Fentanyl was invented in 1959 to help cancer patients cope with intense post-surgical pain. These days, it’s prescribed as a lollipop or a patch, which slowly releases the dosage through the skin, typically used for a few days after a major surgery. Though illegal in pill form, black-market fentanyl pills have become common in the past decade. This happened after doctors cut back on prescribing OxyContin in 2007, when the government sued its manufacturer for misleading the public about the drug’s addictive risks. Opioid users had to look elsewhere, and turned to heroin, which dealers started mixing with fentanyl for a faster-acting, more euphoric and addictive high. A fatal fentanyl overdose can happen in barely one minute.”
