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Jackson Family Attorney Blames Prescription Meds

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Jun 26, 2009 12:00 pm US/Eastern

Jackson Family Attorney Blames Prescription Meds

 CBS News Interactive: Substance Abuse In America

(CBS) While it won't be clear for a while what caused the death of pop star Michael Jackson, a family attorney's comments Thursday pointed towards a problem with prescription drugs.

"I have warned of the use of prescription medication and people who have enabled the use of those medications," Brian Oxman, the family attorney, told CBS News anchor Harry Smith. "I do not know how much he has taken, I don't know what his current situation is in the last couple of weeks. Over the last several years I have said to family members that he is overmedicated.

Oxman said that he's been the family's attorney for 20 years. But in 2005, Oxman disassociated himself from the defense team in Jackson's molestation case after a spat with another attorney.

At the time, CBS News legal correspondent Andrew Cohen wrote, "You get the clear sense that Oxman became the 'lawyer who wouldn't leave' the case, so much so that a written 'notice' had to be filed to ensure that he wouldn't be hanging around the courthouse for the next few months."

Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson's brother, gave a press conference in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon. He said that his brother died at 2:26 p.m. local time, and it is believed that Jackson suffered cardiac arrest in his home, but that the cause of death is unknown until they received the results of an autopsy.

Jackson's personal physician tried to resuscitate him at his home, as did the paramedics, Jermaine Jackson said. Then at the hospital, doctors tried to revive him for more than an hour, but were unsuccessful.

The coroner's office received Jackson's body Thursday evening. They anticipate performing the autopsy Friday morning, but the final cause of death will not be conclusive because they need time to conduct toxicology and tissue studies.

Over Jackson's chart-topping music career, his health has commanded as much publicity as his hit songs.

Plastic surgery, mysterious hospitalizations and reports of pill popping have long plagued the King of Pop.

Jackson's unexpected death at age 50 during a comeback attempt stunned the world despite a history of health problems - some real and others rumored - that have been fodder for tabloids and gossip columns speculating wildly about his woes.

In the early 1990s, Jackson's dermatologist revealed the singer had a skin disorder known as vitiligo, which leads to white patches on the skin. Over the years, Jackson underwent numerous plastic surgeries, including a nose job.

Jackson was also widely reported to be addicted to painkillers from pain he developed after he was burned while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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