Counterfeit drugs found at Prince's home

A picture of Prince in concert
Prince (Image credit: Getty)

Synthetic drugs 50 times stronger than heroin were found at Prince’s home in the days after his death.

It has been reported by the Guardian and others that a source close to the investigation told the Associated Press that pills falsely labelled as ‘Watson 385’ actually contained fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times stronger than heroin.

Watson 385 is used to identify pills containing a mix of acetaminophen and hydrocodone.

About 12 tablets were found in a dressing room at Prince’s Paisley Park, with others found in bottles of Vitamin C and aspirin inside a suitcase and bags.

Autopsy results released in June showed that Prince died on April 21 of an accidental fentanyl overdose. How the musician got the drugs is still being investigated.

The anonymous official said almost two dozen pills were found that were similar to one marked Watson 385 and which tested positive for fentanyl, lidocaine and another drug.

Other pills that were taken from Prince’s home were analysed included U-4770, a synthetic drug eight times more powerful than morphine.

Prince was 57 when he died and it was previously revealed that his representatives asked for help from a leading addiction doctor the day before his death.

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.