EXCLUSIVE: Prince's former drug dealer Doctor D claims the singer KNEW what was in the pills that killed him...he bought the mislabeled drugs on purpose to hide his $40,000 a time addiction

Prince's former drug dealer has revealed the star would regularly buy powerful opiates concealed in mislabeled bottles in a bid to hide his secret addiction, DailyMail.com can disclose.

The star would knowingly buy fentanyl – the drug that killed him – and other addictive prescription drugs such as Dilaudid, in bottles labeled as antibiotics or popular pain relief drugs such as Tylenol or Aleve.

And contrary to what the police believe, the singer’s former dealer, known as Doctor D, insists that Prince KNEW exactly what was in the pills that killed him.

‘The mix of hydrocodone and fentanyl is not something that happens by mistake, it’s a combination that a dealer can make up for his client,' Doctor D tells DailyMail.com

‘Prince will have been aware of the mix. If there was a pill with fentanyl in it then he had to have had it made up and he knew 100%.'

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Prince did not have a prescription for fentanyl at the time of his death in April, which has led officials to believe that he may have been taking the counterfeit pills without knowing their contents. But the star's former drug dealer says that's not the case

Prince's former dealer Doctor D told DailyMail.com that he sold Prince fentanyl in the past, and once even watched him smoke the drug

This comes after officials tested pills seized from Prince's Minnesota estate on the day he died.

The stash included two dozen hydrocodone pills – commonly known as Vicodin - that officials found concealed in an Aleve bottle.

The pills were engraved with the standard hydrocodone labeling of 'Watson 385,' but after they were tested officials learned that they actually contained fentanyl, the very potent and highly addictive opioid responsible for the Purple Rain singer’s death.

Prince did not have a prescription for fentanyl at the time of his death, which has led officials to believe that he may have been taking the counterfeit pills without knowing their contents. 

But according to Doctor D – who claims he sold illegal prescription drugs to Prince for 25 years - Prince would have known full well the Vicodin pills were laced with fentanyl.

He claims the potent combination would have been personally requested from his dealer.

Doctor D – who exclusively revealed Prince’s long term prescription drug addiction to Daily.Mail.com at the time of the star’s death - said: ‘The mix of hydrocodone and fentanyl is not something that happens by mistake, it’s a combination that a dealer can make up for his client.

The pills were seized on April 21 from the Paisley Park property (above), on the same day the singer died

This undated photo from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows fake Oxycodone pills that are actually fentanyl (above)

‘Hydrocodone is Vicodin and it’s nowhere near as powerful as fentanyl, it won’t do jack s*** on its own.

‘Prince will have been aware of the mix. If there was a pill with fentanyl in it then he had to have had it made up and he knew 100%.

‘It would have been a special recipe, you can only get fentanyl in a patch or powder so someone will have had to have made the pills up for him.’

The other possibility is that the pills were disguised as lower grade opiate hydrocodone by foreign drug traffickers, likely a Mexican cartel, to conceal a shipment from customs officers.

On Monday it emerged that whoever sold Prince the counterfeit prescription pills he took before he died could be charged with murder.

Former prosecutors and defense attorneys who are familiar with drug investigations say it's likely someone will be prosecuted, whether or not Prince knew he was consuming illegal drugs.

Prince was discovered at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota early  on April 21. .He is pictured here on March 21 walking with a cane just a month before his death

'They will not say it was just Prince's fault and let it go at that,' said Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago now in private practice. 

As for hiding the powerful drugs in bottles mislabeled as less potent medication, Doctor D says it is a typical trick of the trade.

He said: ‘That’s how it’s done, I’d get the prescription drugs my clients wanted and trade them out for something else, put them in a bottle that says antibiotics or Tylenol so that way when they’re caught with it later they can say it’s not illegal.

‘I did it for Prince, I did it for everybody, so it doesn’t surprise me to hear Prince hid the pills in an Aleve bottle.’

Police are now working to find the dealer who may have sold Prince the pills found inside his home.

But Doctor D says, in his view, the star didn’t purposely take an overdose.

‘There’s no way he overdosed on purpose, yes he may have taken too much by mistake but there's got to be a reason behind it,’ he explained.

‘Maybe he wasn’t used to taking fentanyl in pill form, I used to see him sometimes lick the stuff off the patch and I’ve seen him smoke it.

‘Or maybe the dealer put too much fentanyl in each pill, it’s difficult to know, but I’m convinced Prince knew he was taking fentanyl because it’s a drug he has used many many times before.

‘When you’re hooked on opioids there’s no easy way off and you grow a resistance to it. Vicodin on its own wouldn’t have done much for Prince.’

Doctor D revealed the full shocking extent of the late-star's secret prescription drug addiction in an interview with DailyMail.com shortly after Prince’s death on April 21.

The performer's long-time dealer - who asked to be named only as Doctor D - previously revealed the singer would spend up to $40,000 a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and fentanyl patches.

He said the musician, whom he described as 'majorly addicted', regularly bought drugs from him between 1984 and 2008.

The dealer, often to the stars, said Prince suffered crippling stage fright and could not get on stage and perform without the drugs - but had a phobia of doctors so could not obtain a prescription legally.

He said: 'I first met Prince in 1984 while he was filming the movie Purple Rain and he was already majorly addicted to opiates - I didn't hook him on drugs he was already a really heavy user.

'In the beginning he would buy speed as well as Dilaudid.

'I would sell him black beauties which were a black pill and cross tops which were also speed pills.

'He would use that as a counter balance to get back up again from taking opiates.

'That lasted for a couple of years then he would just buy Dilaudid, which is a heroin based opiate. It is highly addictive.

'As far as I knew he never took heroin - as that would leave you out of it for days whereas Dilaudid gives you an energy buzz as well as making you feel relaxed - so he preferred it.

'He needed the drugs because he was so nervous - he could be nervous in a room with just five people in it.

'He was scared to go out in public, he was scared to talk to people and didn't like to go on stage - he had the worst case of stage fright I'd ever seen.

'A lot of performers rely on drugs to make them feel confident on stage but he was by far the worse.

'Plus he was always paranoid about doctors so he wouldn't ask them for help - he had a phobia of them.

'I was surprised when I heard he had been picking up prescriptions before he died.'

Prince made several trips to a Walgreens pharmacy in the days before he died and was even photographed outside the store hours before he was pronounced dead.

Doctor D, originally from Los Angeles but now based in the Coachella Valley, California, first met Prince while working as part of the road crew at a concert.

He soon became his dealer of choice whenever he was in southern California.

Prince would hire him to work backstage at gigs so he could have a constant supply of drugs without arousing any suspicion from those around him.

Doctor D said he watched him develop a major tolerance to the drugs over the years - regularly taking two to three times the recommended dose.

He also began to use patches of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid approximately 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 40 to 50 times more potent than heroin.

The patches are worn like nicotine patches and provide a 72 hour constant release of the drug through the skin into the blood stream.

'He would wear the patch as well as taking the Dilaudid - so it's the equivalent of smoking while you have a nicotine patch on,' Doctor D explained.

'It's like having a constant supply of drugs - they sell for about $200-300 per patch.

'They come in boxes of five and I would sell Prince 20 boxes at a time.

'You can also smoke them but I only saw him do that once.

'You smoke it similar to a crack pipe or something like that - you burn the patch and suck the fumes through a straw.

'It gives you an instant, intense hit.

'He'd buy large supplies of both drugs - I think the most he ever spent was around $40,000 at one time.

More pills: Acetaminophen and hydrocodone bitartrate 500 mg (above)

'I'd say in general his habit was costing him about $2-300 a day but that didn't matter to him as he had plenty of money - he never ran out.'

Doctor D said apart from the one time he saw him smoke a fentanyl patch, Prince's drug use was limited to popping pills, which enabled him to keep his drug use out of the public eye.

'He was always a pill man - that's why nobody ever saw him do drugs,' he said.

'He never smoked or shot up, or snorted cocaine.

'And he was always functional too - I never saw him out of it or strung out because I always provided him with what he needed and he would buy in bulk so he was always prepared.

'At the time I was dealing other drugs too but he never asked for anything else.

'He wasn't really a party guy either, he was doing these drugs so he could feel at ease around people.’

Doctor D, who declined to answer when asked if he was still a drug dealer and took precautions not to be identified, last saw Prince in 2008 before his Coachella performance - and sold him a six month supply of drugs.

After that the star, who was then living in Minnesota, rarely came back to California and Doctor D, never heard from him again.

He added: 'I never heard from him after that - I don't think he came back to the area much.

'He was such a heavy drug user he must have got another drug dealer up in Minnesota.'