DEA Joins LAPD Investigation Into Michael Jackson's Cause of Death

The Drug Enforcement Administration will join the Los Angeles Police Department's investigation into the death of Michael Jackson and probe whether prescription drugs might have played a role, the AP reports. According to experts, the DEA is often called in to assist in cases that might involve drug abuse, illegal distributors or the identification of drugs. "We routinely offer assistance to any agency regarding the Federal Controlled Substance Act," Sarah Pullen of the DEA told CNN. "However, at this time, we have nothing further to comment about the death of Michael Jackson."

Following Jackson's death last Thursday afternoon, rumors quickly spread that the King of Pop suffered sudden cardiac arrest following an injection of a painkiller. As Rock Daily previously reported, Jackson's nurse/nutritionist said the singer desperately sought out the powerful sedative Diprivan or Propofol to relieve chronic insomnia. An overdose of Propofol, which was reportedly found in a search of Jackson's home, could lead to cardiac arrest. However, the LAPD's several-hours-long interview with Jackson's personal doctor Dr. Conrad Murray raised "no red flag" as to Jackson's cause of death. "There was no Demerol. No OxyContin," Murray's lawyer said.

According to the law enforcement source, the DEA will look into various doctors involved with Jackson and examine their practices and their medical supplies, CNN reports. After the first autopsy on Jackson came back inconclusive, a toxicology report was ordered to determine what might have caused Jackson's death. Results are expected in four to six weeks. "We know he was taking some prescription medication," the coroner's office said prior to sending out the toxicology report.

Related Stories:
• Michael Jackson "Desperately" Sought Sedative, Nutritionist Says
• Jackson Family Orders Second Autopsy, Doctor Speaks to LAPD

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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