Some close to Michael Jackson speculate prescription drug abuse may have played a role in his death.

On Friday, the DEA put back up on its website a May report about rising deaths attributed to misusing prescription drugs. The DEA reports 8,500 people died from prescription drug overdose in 2005, which is up 114 percent from 2001 -- the latest numbers available.

WINK News sat down for a gritty discussion with a recovering addict who hopes Michael Jackson's death brings light to the growing problem.

Some close to the king of pop fear he may have overdosed on pain killers. Reports are surfacing Michael Jackson had a Demerol injection just an hour before his death.

"If I had his money, I'd have his problem," Keith Tanofsky says.

Tanofsky spent 15 years trying to get a thrill using any drug he could get his hands on.

"That was my favorite thing -- I'd go into parents' houses and they'd just be there: Valium, caladopin, percocet, percodan, lorcet, lortabs."

All -- prescription drugs that didn't match any pain he had.

"Once you establish how many you can do, you can never get enough no more," Tanofsky says.

His habit landed him in prison for 10 years.

Tanofsky says he lied to doctors: "You tell them the pain keeps getting worse and they'll eventually get you to the Oxycontins."

Then, he says he made a profit selling prescriptions on the street.

"I used to doctor shop and have either people go to doctors for me," Tanofsky says.

Tired of losing friends...

"Several of my friends have died on (muscle relaxers)."

Tired of watching his life slip away...

"I mean I lost everything -- my son, my family..."

Tanofsky checked in to Southwest Florida Addiction Services to stay clean.

"In my line of work, I see it everyday," Richard Lawrence, Fort Myers Prescription Shop pharmacist, says of prescription drug abuse. "I see it in patients who come in here, and I work with law enforcement on it."

Lawrence says if a person mixes pain pills, it can be deadly.

"In quantities that are too much, organs struggle with that frequently," Lawrence says. "You take too many of them you can get respiratory depression and die."

While we won't know what caused Michael Jackson's death until toxicology reports come out next month, there's hope his admitted addiction can save someone else.

"I hope people can wake up and see that someone like Michael Jackson can have this disease just like the person next to you on the bus or at work or anywhere," Tanofsky says.

In the words of Michael Jackson: "I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways."

It's a motto Tanofsky has made a part of his daily life.