The late "Purple Rain" singer Prince most likely knew that the drug he was taking was not Vicodin or morphine, but the 80-100 times more potent fentanyl. Addiction expert Ben Levenson made this assumption a day after a report emerged claiming that some durgs seized from the music icon's estate were mislabelled and contained fentanyl.
"His tolerance levels for fentanyl were probably through the roof," Levenson told People during an exclusive interview. "If you or I took a [Watson 385] that was really fentanyl, it would kill us."
Calling fentanyl a growing problem in the United States, the founder of Origins Behavioural Healthcare further added that China is by far the number one importer of fentanyl into the country. To pass through customs, the lethal drug is reportedly cut into pill forms to look like antibiotics or other types of lower grade opiates, just like hydrocodone or Watson 385.
Levenson further claimed that even extremely qualified pharmacists cannot tell the difference between a fentanyl disguised antibiotic and the actual antibiotics. The expert strongly believes that Prince clearly knew that the pill he was using contain fentanyl, a drug so strong that is mostly only used by surgeons in the operating room.
It is being investigated how the "Purple Rain" singer obtained the mislabelled drugs. Nearly two dozen of prescription narcotic pills were reportedly found in a bottle of the over-the-counter medicine Aleve in the late singer's house.
Authorities have so far not revealed much about the ongoing investigation. Experts who are familiar with drug investigations have claimed that it is highly possible that someone will be prosecuted for supplying the lethal drug to the singer, whether or not he knew about its contents. Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor based in Chicago told Billboard that the judiciary will "not say it was just Prince's fault and let it go at that."
Earlier, reports emerged that some of the pills found at Paisley Park were falsely labeled as a common generic painkiller similar to Vicodin, but actually they contained fentanyl. An officer close to the investigation reportedly declared that Prince did not have a prescription for any controlled substances in Minnesota in the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, watch Prince perform his largest hit "Purple Rain" during 2007 Superbowl halftime below: