Prince performing in 2008 (Photo: Scott Penner/flickr)

What had been feared for weeks became official on Thursday. Prince had died of an opioid overdose when he was found dead in his Minnesota home on April 21.
According to a one-page report released by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, Prince self-medicated with the powerful narcotic fentanyl which is 50 times more potent than heroin.
Fentanyl has been implicated in a recent spike of overdose fatalities around the nation. The Drug Enforcement Administration says fentanyl-related overdoses killed more than 700 people nationwide between late 2013 and early 2015. The main reason it is suddenly popular is the low price tag: a kilogram of heroin sells for $ 75-80,000,  Fentanyl for a mere $ 5,000.
According to unconfirmed reports, Prince had been suffering from chronic pain which was medicated with opioid painkillers. Shortly before his death, the pop and rock icon was reportedly seeking addiction treatment.
It seems, Prince was yet another American who became addicted to opioid painkillers in connection with the medical management of chronic pain. Maybe he was taking too many and too powerful pills and drug tolerance caught up with him.
And whatever intervention there was to help him, evidently came too late.