OXI-COKE

Cocaine Found in Mays' Autopsy

Coroner says drugs contributed to unexpected death.

The sudden death of as-seen-on-TV salesman Billy Mays just got more dramatic. An autopsy report concludes that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that killed Mays in his sleep in June, officials said Friday. A medical examiner tweaked Mays’ earlier cause of death of heart disease, concluding that "cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death." Cocaine use can raise blood pressure in the arteries, thicken the left wall of the ventricle, and quicken the development of atherosclerosis in coronary arteries, the medical examiner continued. Mays used the drug in the days before his death, but was not under the influence when he died, the report said.