Daniel Smith's Overdose

Known primarily as the drug prescribed for heroin withdrawal, methadone is gaining popularity as a painkiller – with sometimes deadly results. From 1999 to 2002 the number of methadone-related deaths tripled to 2,361, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s injury center.  One reason? Given the widespread abuse in recent years of such painkillers as OxyContin, many doctors started prescribing methadone. But methadone stays in the body longer, so there’s a greater danger of taking too much. “It will build up in the body over a few days or a week or two to a lethal level and patients won’t even know,” says Utah physician Lynn Webster, who has studied the issue. “If you add Zoloft [which pathologist Cyril Wecht says was in Daniel’s system] the risk is much higher because they can both cause the same type of arrhythmia.” (In Daniel’s case Wecht believes a lethal combination of drugs caused a deadly irregular heartbeat.) With studies showing that many people who overdose on methadone have a legal prescription, “there needs to be more awareness” about the drug’s dangers, says Webster.

Daniel had been under treatment for depression and back pain, but according to medical information obtained by PEOPLE, his doctors did not consider him suicidal. Nor was there any indication from doctors or acquaintances that he was addicted to drugs or alcohol – which raises the question of where he obtained the methadone and Zoloft. According to someone with knowledge of the investigation, a nurse found a methadone pill in a plastic bag in Anna Nicole’s hospital room not long after Daniel’s death. Yet, while methadone is an increasingly popular painkiller, “it is not a medication that we prescribe,” says Hubert Minnis, the ob-gyn who delivered Smith’s baby by C-section.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, photographer Larry Birkhead has questions he wants answered too. On Oct. 2 Birkhead filed a paternity suit claiming that he is Dannielynn’s father; the suit asks that the child be given a drug test. “He wants to find out if [Danielynn] has drugs in her system,” says Birkhead’s attorney Debra Opri. “He’s very concerned about the presence of drugs in the home.” Being in the Bahamas, however, protects Smith from having to respond to a suit filed in California, so long as she stays out of the state.

As Nassau police continued their probe, there were still no announced plans by press time for Daniel’s funeral, and his body remains in a Nassau funeral home. Nor were there any plans for an official wedding; the couple “will do it where it’s legal at some point,” says Scott.

For now, the symbolic ceremony has provided Smith and Stern with some much needed solace. “At one point, I asked Howard, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’” says James, 50, who executive-produced the upcoming movie Illegal Aliens, which stars Smith (her son Daniel was an associate producer). “And he said, ‘She needs something now.’”

So while James’ wife, Denise, took care of Dannielynn below deck of the catamaran, Smith had her hair set in rollers before slipping on a white veil. Then, at around 3 p.m., Stern, in a black dress suit and open white shirt, and Smith, holding a bouquet of red roses, exchanged vows and Bible verses–as well as temporary rings, because the real ones weren’t yet ready. After the ceremony “we all cheered and Anna wanted to jump into the ocean,” says James. “But there were sharks out there, so we sped back to [Sandy Cay], and then Anna and Howard jumped in. She got a little sore [in her C-section incision] from that.”

Not your typical ceremony, perhaps. But since Daniel’s death, says James, “this was the first time I had seen Anna come out of her grief for a moment.” –People Magazine

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