1999-2010

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Report: "Drugstore heroin" victim Danny Gans owned his own drugstore!


The extent of the lax coverage of the death of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans by the Las Vegas news media is beginning to be revealed tonight as a local television news station reports that the headliner who dropped dead in his prime of an overdose of the powerful opiate Dilaudid (aka "drugstore heroin") was part owner of a pharmaceutical supply company.

KVBC-TV News reports that Gans was a "minority owner" in Green Valley Med, a pharmaceutical company in Henderson, the Las Vegas suburb where he lived.

Green Valley Med describes itself as the "largest medical supplier in Southern Nevada," "your one-stop resource" that "caters specifically to the needs of physicians and other medical professionals who want one place they can count on for all their pharmaceutical, specialty compounding, nutriceutical, medical supply, and equipment essentials."

There has never been an explanation if what other drugs Gans may have had in his system when he died at age 52, nor to how Gans got his hands on the Dilaudid (one of his doctors told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that a computer check showed that Gans apparently did not have a prescription for the drug that killed him). There has been no suggestion, as the news report made that clear, that Gans didn't need to "doctor shop" because he had his very own shop.


KVBC is the home of Gans' close friend, the beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs and executive producer Miles Smith, unofficial husband of local blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author, Michael Jackson "tribute" producer and comp queen Steve Friess (who led a crusade to stop and mislead investigation into what killed the supposedly clean-living showman). Already, Jacobs, who'd taken it upon herself after Gans' death to gild and mythologize her close friend, is on the case, twittering:

"Interviewed Danny (Gans') partner
in 'Green Valley Med' today.
Danny was the 2nd lrgst
owner. State Board of Pharm
seized his records in June"

Now we get to the real scandal: Why did the Las Vegas news media withhold this information?

Connected investigative reporters must have gotten the tip, amid all the rumours of steroid and painkiller use, that Gans was part-owner of a giant pharmacological candy store. If there was indeed a raid on the pharmacy in the weeks after Gans' death, the journos would have gotten word.

The websites for Green Valley Med and Danny Gans both mention support of the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation-- good enough place to start.


But as we have documented in the months since Danny Gans died so tragically on May 1st, the Las Vegas news media-- newspapers, television, and with one noticeable exception, bloggers, stayed away from this monumental story.

With Alicia Jacobs telling her 2,131 followers on Twitter tonight that she's on the case, we can be sure she'll be putting the best possible face on unpleasant news. It will be interesting to see if anyone in the Las Vegas news media will stand up to the powerful interests that have kept a lid on this story.

For some reason, we don't expect it to happen.

Developing...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good stuff Burt!

Matt