Philip Seymour Hoffman Dead; Was Toxic Heroin the Cause?

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is pictured attending a special screening of ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ in New York City. He was found dead today.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 2005 biographical film “Capote,” was found dead today in his New York City apartment, the possible victim of toxic heroin that has triggered dozens of overdoses in East Coast cities.

His body was discovered today (Feb. 2) in his apartment at 35 Bethune St. in the West Village in lower Manhattan.

Police and the Chief Medical Examiner’s office are investigating to determine a cause of death, but a drug overdose is suspected.

Hoffman, who revealed last year that he struggled with substance abuse for years, was found in his bathroom with a hypodermic needle still in his arm, according to police sources. He was found by a personal assistant who telephoned emergency services at around 11:30 am.

Last year, Hoffman checked into rehab after relapsing the year before. At the time, he was reportedly hooked on heroin and prescription pills.

More than 100 deaths have been reported from heroin overdoses up and down the east coast recently because of super potent “stamp bags” of heroin being sold that contain “fentanyl,” a drug used for relief of severe pain and as an anesthetic in hospitals.

A stamp bag typically sells for about $10. Common names of the fentanyl-laced bags are “Theraflu” and “Bud Ice” and “Income Tax,” according to police.

The same combination was responsible for a rash of overdose deaths in 1988 and 2006.

Whether Hoffman obtained some of the deadly drug is unknown at the moment, but his death is one of dozens from heroin overdoses from Boston to Washington, D.C. and as far west as Pittsburgh, Pa. in the past several weeks.

The drug has found its way into the New York City area. In Nassau County on Long Island, at least five people have died from fentanyl-laced heroin overdoses, according to Newsday.