Junkie King

Presley as a popper

After Elvis Presley was found dead on his bathroom floor in Memphis on Aug. 16, 1977, the county medical examiner ruled that the king of rock 'n' roll had died of natural causes. The verdict: cardiac arrhythmia, perhaps brought on by longstanding hypertension and atherosclerosis. But rumors, fed by a toxicology study showing traces of at least ten prescription drugs in his body, soon circulated depicting Presley as a medication junkie who had fallen victim to his habit. There was even talk of a "drug trailer" with a live-in nurse on the lush grounds of his Graceland mansion.

During all this speculation, Presley's personal physician, George Nichopoulos, 52--or "Dr. Nick," as the affable, white-haired Memphis practitioner was known in the Presley household--steadfastly maintained that any drug abuse by the singer was "accidental." But last fall the Tennessee board of medical examiners filed a 59-page complaint against Nichopoulos, charging him with indiscriminately prescribing uppers, downers, tranquilizers and narcotics for Presley and 19 other people, including Singer Jerry Lee Lewis. (The state pharmacy board filed its own charges against Memphis Druggist Irving Jack Kirsch, who had filled many of Presley's prescriptions.) According to the complaint against Nichopoulos, he wrote orders for 12,000 pills and vials of potent drugs for Presley in the final 20 months of the singer's life, including Quaalude, Dilaudid, Amytal, Dexedrine, Valium, Demerol, Carbrital, Placidyl and Percodan.

Last week, under the glare of TV lights, the board of medical examiners opened a hearing into its charges. Dr. Nick was among the first to testify. Recalling an association that began in 1967 when he treated the star for saddle sores, he painted a fascinating, depressing picture of life with the king: -- Presley was probably addicted to the painkiller Demerol and barbiturates as well. Twice, in October 1973 and again in March 1975, he was hospitalized, and attempts were made to wean him off drugs, one time using methadone. But Presley was so distrustful of his doctors after learning they were psychiatrists that he refused any further treatment. -- On tour, Presley routinely popped pills to go to sleep, before and after shows, and to wake up. Nichopoulos always took along three suitcases full of medical "supplies," including a large assortment of stimulants, depressants and painkillers ("So we wouldn't have to rely on an emergency room before a show"). The 70-to 100-member entourage also drew freely from this pharmacy--"if the need arose." But Nichopoulos is unsure who was getting what: "I have no records at all." --Prescriptions meant for others were usually written in Presley's name because he felt compelled to pick up the tab. Once, though, before a 1977 Hawaii tour, Nichopoulos wrote ten prescriptions (550 tablets) for himself, then gave the drugs to Presley. Said Dr. Nick: "I felt if I charged him for the medication, his father would blow a gasket." -- Nichopoulos, who said he acted like a brother, father and counselor to his patient, occasionally tried to placate Presley with placebos. But the singer, who kept his own medical reference books, was apparently too shrewd for these ploys. After he confided what he had done, Dr. Nick said, Presley replied that he knew it and that he was just playing along.

Though Dr. Nick's testimony portrayed Presley as heavily dependent on drugs, there was still a question whether they killed him. The drugs found in Presley's body, some medical observers noted, were not at lethal levels and his longtime abuse of medication probably made Presley tolerant of high amounts. Still, several of the drugs, taken in conjunction, could have interacted with each other and produced a fatal synergistic effect. And there is no doubt that, whatever his other problems, there was no medical justification for the voracious way Presley took drugs. At week's end, the Tennessee board voted unanimously to suspend Dr. Nick's license for three months--but only after praising him as a valuable member of the medical profession.

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