Did “Legal” Drugs Kill Amy Winehouse?

On Tuesday, Amy Winehouse’s family revealed that toxicology tests detected no illegal drugs in her system. The actual statement of the family was: “Toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy’s system at the time of her death. Results indicate that alcohol was present, but it cannot be determined as yet if it played a role in her death.”

The important thing to note in this statement was the addition of the word ‘illegal’ before drugs. So what about the legal drugs? Did legal or recreational drugs contributed to her death?

In an interview with ABCNews.com, Pittsburg forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht said, “The fact that the family said no illicit drugs were found does not mean in and of itself other drugs obtained legally were not found. Most drug deaths are from legally obtained drugs. That’s one caveat I would express in regard to the family’s statement.”

According to University of Florida’s toxicology professor Bruce A. Goldberger, some kinds of drugs are harder to detect in the human body. He is of the opinion that drugs may not have killed Winehouse directly but they could still have pushed her to the edge indirectly.

Goldberger told ABCNews.com: “I think the picture that we get by studying Amy Winehouse and her behavior is so different than some of the other stars that we’ve lost, including Heath Ledger. This lifestyle that she lived could have resulted in her death, even though drugs were not found at the time of autopsy.”

While the late singer had admitted during her life time that she consumed a lot of alcohol, she had associated her struggles with her depression and had denied being an alcoholic.

Goldberger further added, “The misuse/abuse of illicit drugs as well as prescription drugs can lead to cardiovascular disease and other changes in the body that can lead to death. Alcohol abuse can cause similar changes.”

Source: [ABCNews.com]