Tom Petty: It was an "accidental" OD

When others in their millions deify you , you come to believe, to some degree or another, you are beyond normal human limits .

Petty never did much antics on stage if any at all. Blame the rockstar lifestyle if you will and a combination of issues with aging. Nevertheless it is tragic. I have seen him live many times and the last time with the Hypnotic Eye tour a few years ago - he did not look well at all at that time. Such a great talent and passion for song writing. His songs spoke to so many perhaps his single greatest talent was a profound insight into the human spirit and joy/pain of living.

"rockstar lifestyle"...I rarely see a rock star who isn’t skinny.

I want, no, need to believe TP had issues that are common to us all. It may be just their access, means, lifestyle that separate us all.

I'm very sad about Tom Petty. I'm also sad about the state of pain and addiction management in our country.

Prince had to reach outside of the state he lived in to get addiction care. It's quite likely he had inadequate pain management as well. As far as I can tell, he mixed pain meds with counterfeit drugs which had Fentanyl instead of what he thought was in them.

I won't judge Petty, but I will say that if well to do, not isolated, well liked people like Petty and Prince could run into problems with pain management, addiction and overall prescription management then imagine how difficult this might be for everyone else.

My point is just, I wish everyone in the US had better health care and on-demand access to excellent pain/prescription and addition management and I fear we are far from that.

Best,

E

At Petty’s age (same as mine), I assumed he was, like so many of us (though not me), just a pothead. But he had hurt his hip either just before or just as the tour was starting, and didn’t want to cancel. It was viewed as his Farewell Tour, and he decided to soldier on with the pain, using the opioids to get through it. It doesn’t take long to develop a nasty little habit. At least, that's what I've heard ;-).