Prince’s addiction highlights lack of good medicine to treat chronic pain

Allegations of “Purple Rain” singer Prince’s drug addiction appears to have been confirmed by his friends. Because his plane made an emergency landing in rural Illinois where Prince received treatment for drug overdose, speculations continue to hound the singer weeks after his death on April 21.

The Mirror reports that two of Prince’s friends have confirmed the singer’s addiction to painkillers. The singer began taking opioids because of a hip strain that caused his chronic pain.

Sky Dangcil, the musical collaborator of Prince, said the singer took painkillers to keep the show going. When he could no longer bear the pain, Prince would fly to his estate in Turks and Caicos where he would rest his hips, says Dangcil who deejayed and played violin for the singer from 2000 through 2007, reports US Magazine.

Kim Berry, the longtime hairstylist of the singer, also says Prince was always in pain for which he took prescription drugs. However, Dr Michael Todd Schulenberg, the physician who performed tests on Prince on April 7 and prescribed him painkillers on April 21, is allegedly missing.

A search warrant was carried out on May 5, but the spokeswoman at the Minnetonka clinic where Shculenberg used to work, said he has resigned from his job. Prince’s house in Minnesota yielded medical records linking the clinic where Schulenberg prescribed the singer medication for a mysterious ailment.

However, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) cautions the public from passing judgment on Prince for his painkiller addiction. The council points out that his condition differs from celebrities who have died from overdosing on recreational drugs.

It stressed that since the late 19^th century when morphine addiction was first isolated by an English physician, there has been little pharmacological progress since then in pain management. Although there were medical breakthroughs for other ailments since the beginning of the 20^th century, ACSH notes that the same two classes of drugs used in 1899 – hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone (Percocet) - remain the primary therapies for treating chronic pain.

ACSH stresses the two drugs have significant downside of addiction and overdose potential. Prince’s case was that of “pick your poison” due to the lack of good medicine available to treat chronic pain.