Rumors are floating around regarding Michael Jackson’s use of prescription sedatives and its possible role in his death.

Propofol (or Diprivan) is a non-barbiturate sedative used for anesthesia induction in surgeries. The fact that Michael had this drug at all is perplexing as its use is carefully monitored and highly dangerous.

Along with his Diprivan bottle, prescriptions from up to 5 other physicians were discovered. I couldn’t help but consider the notion of this case looking more and more like our fastest growing drug problem – Prescription abuse.

As it stands in the US, while abuse of most drugs is either steady or dropping, prescription drug abuse is the fast growing. According to NIDA, more than 16 million Americans had used prescriptions drugs for non medical purposes in 2006.

Here’s a little Michael Video, just for fun: