1. MARILYN MONROE died from an overdose of sleeping pills — specifically, Nembutal and chloral hydrate. Although her death was officially listed as a suicide in 1962, many now say the overdose was more likely to have been accidental.
2. ELVIS PRESLEY. Perhaps the most famous prescription-drug abuser of all time, Elvis died in 1977 from an overdose of medications while on the toilet in his Graceland mansion. Presley’s ex-wife wrote: “Presley was taking Placidyls to combat severe insomnia and Dexedrine to counter the sleeping pills’ after effects.” Presley’s personal physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, concluded: “Elvis’s problem was that he didn’t see the wrong in it. He felt that by getting [pills] from a doctor, he wasn’t the common everyday junkie…”
3. JUDY GARLAND was found dead in her London bathroom by her husband in 1969. The cause of death was an accidental overdose of Seconal.
4. HOWARD HUGHES died in 1976 in route to a Houston hospital from his Acalpulco estate. Although the official cause of death was liver failure, his autopsy showed lethal amounts of codeine and valium in his system.
5. ANNA NICOLE SMITH died in 2007 of an accidental drug overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate that became increasingly lethal when combined with other prescription drugs in her system, specifically 4 benzodiazepines: Klonopin (Clonazepam), Ativan (Lorazepam), Serax (Oxazepam), and Valium (Diazepam). Furthermore, she had taken Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) and Topamax (Toprimate), an anticonvulsant GABA agonist, which likely contributed to the sedative effect of chloral hydrate and the benzodiazepines. Whoa.
6. DOROTHY DANDRIDGE was found dead in West Hollywood in 1965 from an overdose of Imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. It’s believed she improperly combined the medication — which she took for her bipolar disorder — with pain medication she received after breaking an ankle.
7. KEITH MOON, The Who drummer died in 1978 from an accidental overdose of Heminevrin, a medication taken as part of a program to wean him off alcohol.
8. HEATH LEDGER died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in 2008. Ledger was taking anti-depressants as well as the “dangerous drug” Ambien at the time of his death.
9. MICHAEL JACKSON – Well shit. ~stats from edrugsearch.com