In the month leading up to his March 10 death, Corey Haim illegally obtained a massive amount of prescription drugs by “shopping doctors,” using fraudulent prescriptions, an alias and giving several medical excuses, the California attorney general said in a press conference Tuesday.
In a 32-day period ending just five days before he collapsed in his mother’s L.A. apartment, Haim possessed at least 149 tablets of Vicodin, 195 tablets of Valium, 15 tablets of Xanax and 194 tablets of Soma, according to Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr., who called Haim the poster child of prescription drug abuse.
Haim, 38, went to seven different doctors and seven different pharmacies to obtain the doses, Brown said. The actor also collected the drugs from emergency rooms and urgent care facilities.
The top state prosecutor’s office had been investigating a prescription drug crime ring for the past nine months when a fraudulent prescription for OxyContin – that originated from a stolen doctor’s pad – turned up in Haim’s name.
Witnesses told investigators that Haim, who had multiple stints in rehab, had abused drugs since he was 15. In the months before he died, Haim “was preparing to do a media special on how easy it was for him to obtain pain medications,” according to the attorney general’s statement.
Haim’s doctors told drug enforcement agents that the child actor was “very convincing” in his request for prescription meds. Although Haim’s primary care physician confirmed to investigators that the actor was addicted to prescription meds, he also sought drugs from other doctors, telling them he suffered shoulder pain that occurred while filming a movie in Canada.
According to the attorney general’s statement, Haim told doctors that he wasn’t seeing any other physicians and stated he planned to have surgery. He also told certain doctors he had “depression issues.”
On March 17, an arrest was made of a suspect tied to the drug ring, and Brown said Tuesday that more arrests were expected. No other celebrity names have turned up in the investigation thus far.
Although police mentioned an overdose as a possible cause of Haim’s death, the official determination is pending toxicology results.
I used to be one of the people who felt that when people overdosed it was their own fault and no one else should be blamed for it… until recently. I have now realized these people have lots of emotional problems and they need help. Sadly, being a celebrity can be one of the worst triggers it seems. It is just so sad…
