One of many medicine present in Liam Payne’s system on the time of his loss of life has a deadly repute.

“All these medicine do nothing however kill individuals,” dependancy specialist Richard Taite solely advised Us Weekly on Monday, October 21, of pink cocaine, which he mentioned is “coming in[to] trend now,” and fentanyl. “They’re not like heroin and cocaine up to now. That is like rubbish, all of it. [It’s] all harmful right now.”

Payne’s partial post-mortem confirmed that he had “pink cocaine” in his system when he died at age 31 on October 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony of a lodge in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Regardless of the leisure drug’s title, it not often incorporates cocaine itself, however is slightly a mix of ketamine, MDMA and methamphetamine. Payne additionally had cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack in his system, in line with an ABC Information report printed on Monday.

Taite, who’s the founder and chairman at Carrara Luxurious Rehab & Habit Therapy Heart in California, highlighted the inherent risks of Payne’s drug use. He emphasised that “all of the medicine” presently being offered “on the road are dangerous,” as a result of prevalence of fentanyl and different high-risk substances.

“70 % of all medicine that you simply purchase on the street have fentanyl in it,” he mentioned. “In the event you’re not getting tablets in a pharmacy, that’s dangerous. As a result of it’s not simply fentanyl anymore; now it’s pink cocaine, it’s Xylazine, it’s ketamine.”

Payne was pronounced lifeless on the scene after falling from the balcony. Buenos Aires emergency companies chief Alberto Crescenti mentioned in an October 16 assertion that emergency responders couldn’t “resuscitate him,” as his “accidents had been incompatible with life.”

“Primarily based on what the crew noticed, there was apparently a cranial fracture and very severe accidents that led to his speedy loss of life,” Crescenti’s assertion continued.

Sooner or later later, a preliminary post-mortem famous that based mostly on the place of Payne’s physique and the accidents he suffered, he “didn’t undertake a reflexive posture to guard himself and should have fallen in a state of semi or whole unconsciousness.”

Whereas the autumn prompted Payne’s loss of life, Taite advised Us that medicine are actually guilty.

“For [Payne] to fall out of a window with no defensive markings in any respect on his physique? He died of drug dependancy,” he mentioned.

Previous to his loss of life, Payne revealed throughout a 2021 episode of the “Diary of a CEO” podcast that he had a “drawback” with “tablets and booze” throughout his early days in One Course. He recalled feeling grateful when the group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

“The day the band ended, I used to be like, ‘Thank the Lord,’” he admitted. “I do know lots of people are going to be mad at me for saying that, however I wanted to cease or it will kill me.”

Payne’s former bandmates have shared tributes to him within the wake of his loss of life. Harry Types mentioned he’s “really devastated by Liam’s passing” in an October 17 Instagram assertion, and Zayn Malik shared a heartwarming message noting that he “at all times secretly revered” Payne’s candor although they “butted heads as a result of” of it generally.

Louis Tomlinson likened Payne’s loss of life to dropping “a brother” and Niall Horan famous that he feels “so lucky” that he noticed Payne weeks earlier than his his passing.

“I sadly didn’t know that after saying goodbye and hugging him that night, I might be saying goodbye perpetually,” Horan, 31, added. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son, Bear, whom he shared with ex Cheryl Cole.

In the event you or somebody you recognize is combating substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA) Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

With reporting by Sarah Jones and Andrea Simpson