Rapper Mac Miller died from a mix of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol, coroner rules
- The ‘Blue Slide Park’ rapper died in September, stunning the hip-hop community
Rapper Mac Miller died from a mix of the powerful opioid fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol, the Los Angeles medical examiner announced Monday.
The 26-year-old rapper died in September after being discovered unresponsive in his Studio City home. Authorities performed an autopsy on Miller the following day but “a cause of death was deferred pending further investigation,” the medical examiner’s office said in a release.
It took months to complete the toxicology report, which revealed that Miller had the deadly mix of drugs in his system. The coroner ruled the official manner of death as an accident.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. While used to treat severe pain, like that experienced by cancer patients, illegally made fentanyl is often mixed with heroin or cocaine, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the country experienced a record number of drug overdoses, an increase driven by synthetic opioid use, the CDC found.
Several recent high-profile deaths have also been linked to the drug. Prince died at 57 in April 2016, and a medical examiner ruled it an accidental overdose, finding fentanyl in his system. Tom Petty, 66, died in October 2017 from an accidental overdose after mixing medications, including the opioid.