Billy Mays Autopsy Finds Cocaine - is that Really a Big Shock?

Autopsy reports have been released in the death of Billy Mays, who died in his sleep on June 28. While the common speculation in Billy Mays' death included heart problems and/or a bump on the head during a rocky airplane landing, TMZ is reporting cocaine was a factor in Billy Mays' death.

According to TMZ, Billy Mays' autopsy report listed "cocaine use" as a contributing factor to his death, along with hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease. The autopsy report said that metabolites of cocaine were present in Billy Mays' system, but not cocaine itself, which means Billy Mays imbibed days before his death, but not immediately prior.

TMZ also reports that Billy Mays had Vicodin, oxycodone (a painkiller), Xanax, Valium, temazepam (an anti-anxiety medication) and alcohol in his system.

While TMZ says Billy Mays' autopsy report is "mighty shocking", is it really that shocking that Billy Mays used cocaine?

The day Billy Mays died, a group on Facebook called "Cocaine and Hookers" posted a message which stated, "Snort a line in memory of Billy Mays! RIP Billy! We all knew the OxyClean thing was a front!" One comment to that message said, "You just can never substitute powdered clarity with OxyClean."

The reaction to Billy Mays' autopsy report seems to be mixed. While several have commented that they were indeed surprised to learn Billy Mays was using cocaine, others seem to believe Billy Mays had to be "coked up" to deliver such energetic pitches for his cleaning products such as OxiClean and Orange Glo.

One such commenter on the NY Daily News article regarding Billy Mays' autopsy report, using the name Abyss, said, "Maybe cocaine makes your voice very loud all the time..."

Another comment by Tinalouise on the TMZ report on how cocaine contributed to Billy Mays' death said, "And all this time I thought that he was just a happy go lucky spirit who was passionate about his work. Never would I have known that he was such a serious drug user. In reality he was just another insecure nervous wreck who couldn't deal with life without his dope."

There are also some entirely inappropriate jokes that perhaps Billy Mays mixed up the OxiClean and cocaine.

And here everyone thought Billy Mays was the clean-cut pitchman, versus Vince Shlomi, the ShamWow guy, who beat up a prostitute earlier this year.

Sources:

"Cocaine killed TV pitchman Billy Mays, autopsy finds", NYDailyNews.com

"Autopsy: Cocaine a Factor in Billy Mays' Death", TMZ.com

"Cocaine and Hookers", Facebook.com

"Guy From Sham Wow Arrested", PostChronicle.com