Lawyer says prescription drugs killed Michael Jackson, hunt on for Doc

As if the shock of his death was not enough, the family lawyer of Michael Jackson has alleged that prescription drugs encouraged by enablers led to his death. Police have launched a hunt for the physician who administered a drug to Jackson hours before he died of cardiac arrest. Jackson, who had a history of addiction to pain killers, was on a number of drugs to combat injuries suffered during his training for the comeback.

Spicezee Bureau

Los Angeles, June 26: As if the shock of his death was not enough, the family lawyer of Michael Jackson has alleged that prescription drugs encouraged by enablers led to his death. Police have launched a hunt for the physician who administered a drug to the King of Pop hours before he died of cardiac arrest. Brian Oxman, attorney and spokesman of the late singer, told 'CNN' that there were "enablers" in the star's entourage, who pressurized the singer to perform and pushed him towards prescription drugs. "I believe (his manager) Frank DiLeo was with him at the time (of his heart attack), that is what I have been told. This family has been trying for months and months and months to take care of Michael Jackson," said Oxman. "The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him. If you think the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, that is nothing compared to what has taken place in the life of Michael Jackson," Oxman added hinting at the role of the coterie that surrounded Jackson during his last days. "I do not know what medications he was taking, but the reports that we have received within the family are that they were extensive. I do not know the cause of it. But it is something that I feared. This is a case of abuse of medications, unless the cause is something else," Oxman said. The singer, who had a history of addiction to pain killers, was reportedly on a number of prescribed drugs to combat injuries suffered during his training for the comeback. "When you warn people that this is what's going to happen and then it happens, where there's smoke there's fire," Oxman added. According to US magazine 'Life & Style', the singer had been popping pills, including anti-anxiety drugs Xanax and Zoloft and painkiller Demerol, for weeks before his death and that an overdose had caused respiratory and cardiac arrest. Meanwhile British tabloid Sun quoted a Jackson aide who said, "Shortly after taking the Demerol he started to experience slow shallow breathing. His breathing gradually got slower and slower until it stopped." The police are now into his medical treatment, seeking to interview one of the pop king's doctors and seizing a car that they said may contain drugs or other evidence. As medical examiners prepared to begin an autopsy for Jackson, police towed a BMW from rented home "because it may contain medications or other evidence that may assist the coroner in determining the cause of death," police spokeswoman Karen Rayner said. She said the car belongs to one of Jackson's doctors whom police wanted to interview. Rayner said she did not know the doctor's identity and stressed the doctor was not under criminal investigation. Los Angeles County coroner's watch commander Lt. Brian Elias said Friday morning the autopsy would begin shortly and take several hours, but he said other tests would take longer and determining the official cause of death would take weeks or more. A handful of bleary-eyed fans camped out throughout the night with media outside the Jackson family house in the San Fernando Valley and near his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. People heading to work in New York stopped to pay respects outside Harlem's Apollo Theater, where Jackson performed as a child. "When the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose, so thank God we're celebrating him now," Liza Minnelli told CBS' "The Early Show" by telephone. Jackson, who was reportedly under huge debt, was hoping a turn of fortune with the success of his 'This Is It' concert series but had expressed his discomfort over the extended dates of the show, which was increased from 10 to 50. "I went to bed knowing I sold 10 dates, and woke up to the news I was booked to do 50. I don't know how I'm going to do 50 shows. I'm really angry with them booking me up to do 50 shows. I only wanted to do 10," the star was quoted as saying by newspapers, but the reports were later denied by show organisers AEG Live. The company had sold tickets worth 85 million for the 50-date concert tour that was to be held in London's famed O2 Arena from July 13. The Los Angeles based company had already invested USD 20 million in the comeback concert tour which was to be the 50-year-old star's "final curtain call". AEG will now refund the amount to approximately 750,000 people across the globe. Jackson died Thursday afternoon at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him for three-quarter of an hours there before rushing him to the hospital. His brother Jermaine said Jackson apparently suffered cardiac arrest, an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems. Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer. His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — is the best-selling album of all time worldwide.