<p>Some people close to the 50-year-old pop icon revealed yesterday they had been concerned for some time about his use of drugs, a day after he collapsed and died apparently from cardiac arrest at his rented Los Angeles home.<br /><br />In response to numerous calls triggered by the singer's sudden death, the DEA put back up on its website a May report into prescription drugs that showed more than 8,500 people died from misusing them in 2005.<br /><br />It warned that more people died from drug abuse than in shootings, and in the category of accidental deaths it came only second to car accidents.<br /><br />The LA coroner was carrying out an autopsy on Jackson yesterday, and toxicology results are not expected for several weeks.<br /><br />But celebrity website TMZ.com -- which broke the news of Jackson's death -- reported yesterday he had been administered an injection of the powerful painkiller Demerol about an hour before he lost consciousness.<br /><br />Los Angeles Police Department Officer Karen Rayner said investigators spoke with the doctor who gave Jackson the dose but they wanted to speak with him again.</p>
<p>Some people close to the 50-year-old pop icon revealed yesterday they had been concerned for some time about his use of drugs, a day after he collapsed and died apparently from cardiac arrest at his rented Los Angeles home.<br /><br />In response to numerous calls triggered by the singer's sudden death, the DEA put back up on its website a May report into prescription drugs that showed more than 8,500 people died from misusing them in 2005.<br /><br />It warned that more people died from drug abuse than in shootings, and in the category of accidental deaths it came only second to car accidents.<br /><br />The LA coroner was carrying out an autopsy on Jackson yesterday, and toxicology results are not expected for several weeks.<br /><br />But celebrity website TMZ.com -- which broke the news of Jackson's death -- reported yesterday he had been administered an injection of the powerful painkiller Demerol about an hour before he lost consciousness.<br /><br />Los Angeles Police Department Officer Karen Rayner said investigators spoke with the doctor who gave Jackson the dose but they wanted to speak with him again.</p>