Rapper Coolio died from fentanyl overdose: Manager

Grammy-winning rapper Coolio, born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., died at the age of 59 in 2022. It was unclear at the time what had claimed his life. His manager revealed this week that Coolio, like tens of thousands of other Americans, was slain by a fentanyl overdose.

Coolio's manager, Jarez Posey, said that the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office disclosed to the rapper's family Thursday that Coolio had died on Sept. 28, 2022, of a fentanyl overdose, reported Reuters.

The coroner's report obtained by Page Six indicated that police found three bags of drugs and drug-related paraphernalia on or near the dead rapper's body.

Officials also collected "a baggy with a brown powdery substance, foil with burn residue, a straw/tube, saline solution, a spoon with residue," along with some cannabis products.

According to the autopsy report, Coolio also allegedly had heroin and methamphetamine in his system.

His death was ruled accidental, with cardiomyopathy, asthma, and phencyclidine use cited as contributing factors.

Fentanyl is the leading killer of adults ages 18-45.

The number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. increased by 30% between 2019 and 2020, representing a five-fold increase since 1999. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2019 to 2020, opioid-involved death rates increased by 38% and synthetic opioid-involved death rates went up by 56%.

In 2021, opioids killed an estimated 80,816 Americans.

Ten percent of the significant drop in U.S. life expectancy, now at its lowest point in over two decades, is attributable to such overdoses.

TheBlaze previously reported that, according a 2022 Congressional Joint Economic Committee report, the opioid crisis, after adjusting for inflation, cost the U.S. economy $1.47 trillion in 2020. That is a $487 billion increase over 2019 and a 37% increase from 2017.

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced in December that over "50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder" had been seized in 2022. An untold amount of fentanyl nevertheless made its way onto the streets, as reflected by recent death statistics.

The Sinaloa and CJNG cartels mass-produce fentanyl at secret Mexican facilities with precursor chemicals from China. These drugs are then trafficked into the U.S. over the largely unsecured border.

The DEA indicated in 2020 that "Mexico and China are the primary source countries for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the United States."

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