AG: Corey Haim obtained 550 pills before death
LOS ANGELES, CA
/*Haim*/ obtained the meds, which included Valium, Vicodin, Xanax
and Soma, through seven different doctors and seven pharmacies,
Brown said, and he used an alias on at least one occasion.
Brown said it did not appear the doctors knew Haim was obtaining
prescriptions through multiple sources.
He called Haim -- the star of 1980s films such as "The Lost
Boys" and "License to Drive" -- a "poster child" for
prescription drug abuse. He said that it wasn't just celebrities
who were obtaining massive quantities of prescription drugs through
doctor-shopping.
"We think it illustrates a problem that is more widespread,"
Brown said. His office has pursued more than 200 cases statewide
involving prescription abuse by both doctors and patients.
Haim's activities described by Brown Tuesday are separate from a
fraudulenty-obtained prescription Haim may have obtained. That
prescription for Oxycontin was found during an investigation into a
ring that illegally obtained prescription pads and used the stolen
identities of doctors to fill them out.
Haim, 38, died March 10 after collapsing in his mother's
apartment. Haim struggled with drugs throughout his life. He was
also suffering from flulike symptoms before his death.
Coroner's officials have said they found four prescriptions in
Haim's name in the apartment where he collapsed, and all were
prescribed by a doctor treating the actor.
Brown said the doctors who prescribed medications to Haim told
investigators they felt duped. He said Haim was able to get the
medications by complaining of specific symptoms, such as shoulder
pain and that the actor also used emergency rooms and urgent care
facilities to obtain the drugs.
He said investigators were able to find the medications obtained
by Haim through a state database that monitors prescriptions. The
database is available to doctors and pharmacies, Brown said, but
its use is voluntary.