JACKSON'S PAINKILLER ADDICTION IS A SHOCK TO PROMOTERS

Last updated: Monday, June 29, 2009

JACKSON'S PAINKILLER ADDICTION IS A SHOCK TO PROMOTERS

MICHAEL JACKSON's reported painkiller addiction has come as a complete shock to the man behind the star's planned London comeback shows - because the King of Pop passed a four-hour physical exam just weeks ago.

Michael Jackson speaking at the press conference and tour announcement held at the O2 Arena.
London, England - 05.03.09

Jackson confirmed reports he had been hooked on prescription drugs in the 1990s, but AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips felt sure the singer was clean and sober.

In fact, he wouldn't have been able to get the insurance for his comeback shows at the 02 Arena if there was any doubt he was still dependant on drugs.

Asked if the exam would have revealed medication abuse, Phillips tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "Absolutely."

Phillips insists he has been around performers who were abusing drugs, and he saw no signs of addiction in Jackson.

He adds, "I'm not a doctor, but I've had many, many meetings with him (Jackson), where he was incredibly lucid."

But it now appears Jackson was hooked on a cocktail of prescription pills from painkillers to anti-anxiety medication.

And even the Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman has alluded to the fact the tragic star was hooked on pills in his final days.

Reports suggest Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest at his home on Thursday (25Jun09) following an overdose of prescribed medication.

The Times has also spoken to an unnamed former associate of Jackson's, who reveals that, even as a young man, the singer experienced debilitating muscle cramps from strenuous dance routines, and he ordered his physicians to give him Demerol, morphine or other drugs.

The associate says, "He had a way of almost demanding it because he would say he couldn't perform and therefore a doctor would give it to him. He had taken a tremendous amount of narcotics and had a very high tolerance."

Source: WENN

| Monday, June 29, 2009

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JACKSON'S PAINKILLER ADDICTION IS A SHOCK TO PROMOTERS

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