Billy Mays Was On the Coke
Because 50-year-old men don't just go dropping dead in their sleep for no reason, it turns out that Billy Mays was using cocaine shortly before his death on June 27th. And here I thought his delightfully frenzied behavior was all just an act. The Hillsborough County medical examiner's office said that although 50-year-old father of two died from hypertensive heart disease, cocaine use was a contributing cause of death.
(At the time of his death, medical examiner Vernard Adams said Mays was taking the prescription painkillers Tramadol and hydrocodone for hip pain, but there was no indication of drug abuse.) (Source)
Well obviously there was no indication of drug abuse at first because Billy was testing out his new product, Blow E-Raze. Sure, it might have worked for cleaning up of those pesky DWIs, but he's going to have to work just a little harder to pull one over on ol' toxicology.
you don't die in your sleep from coke, you die in your sleep from doing coke while taking prescription drugs. it happens to a lot of people all the time and the illicit drugs get blamed.
Actually, Esme, it does. Long term use can cause athlerosclerosis as well as degeneration of the heart muscle to the point where the ventricles are not able to properly pump blood. In addition, people with underlying issues that they may not even be aware of can just drop dead, scripts or not. Cocaine/meth/crack/amphetamines of any kind can also cause strokes - in young people - without any longterm abuse. If you feel the need to party, at least be realistic and informed about the danger you're putting yourself in. Been there, done that.