a.m. poolside and in the hotel bar. and her appearance suggests she was drunk. the source saying other hotel guests on both those days overheard the bartender accuse the bartender of watering down her drinks. this picture shes her poolside with a drink by her side and we don't know what the drink contained. this account comes from a single source, one cnn believes to be reliable and we received a copy of the preliminary death certificate and the cause of death is listed as deferred and that's because the drug screening won't be completed until as many as several weeks. the funeral will be on saturday. we'll be joined by the reverend who will be giving the eulogy who married whitney houston to bobby brown. and dr. sanjay gupta and drew pinsky are here to weigh in on mixing booze and pills, something that goes far beyond what happened to whitney houston. a conversation i urge you to listen to. it was eye-opening for me. we did it right before the show began. here's what investigators are looking into right now. prescription pills found inside whitney houston's beverly hills hotel room are the focus of the investigate into her still, unexplained death. authorities tell cnn they issued subpoenas to houston's doctors in los angeles and on the east coast, seeking her medical records and are looking specifically into what type of prescriptions she was given. investigators also are contacting various pharmacies where her prescriptions were filled including this one, the mickey fine pharmacy at beverly hills which is raided by the drug enforcement agency in 2009 after michael jackson died. the dea is not involved in houston's case but sources say issuing subpoenas is an unusual step for an investigation into a death that's not considered a homicide. >> as of right now it's not a criminal investigation. >> the prescription pill bottles found by police were all under houston's name. officials say it does not appear she was filling out multiple prescriptions from different doctors commonly known as "doctor shopping" but they've not ruled it out. it's too soon in the investigation to determine if houston was me described any drugs she didn't need or used an alias to secure some pills. the doctors and pharmacies contacted by investigators have been cooperating according to the coroner's office and nothing out of the ordinary has been found so far. the new york daily news says some pill bottles were not labeled. a couple were old and at least one was filled recently. cnn has confirmed houston visited dr. shaun nazari shown here before she died. he treats her for throat and vocal problems for several years. a family friend told us that houston had been on prescription medication for a throat infection and had been taking anti-anxiety medicine. houston may have mixed some of these medicines with alcohol, according to friends, she was drinking champagne two nights before her death and another source tells cnn she was seen drinking that weekend in the hotel. a close family friends tells cnn houston was known to have off drink if she went out. the singer battled drug and alcohol problems for many years and she entered rehab last year and a family friend said she had been clean of hard drugs for several years. investigators said they would be looking for the presence of illegal as well as prescription drugs and the results of the toxicology tests which may be ready within weeks. houston's funeral is set for saturday, a private service in her hometown, newark, new jersey. as for reports the houston family had banned the singer's ex-husband bobby brown from the anding the funeral sources say that was never the case and brown may very well be at the service, after all, to pay tribute to houston's life. the funeral will be held at whitney houston's childhood church. aretha franklin will sing and the reverend will join us shortly. digging deeper into testify drinking and what light it sheds on her death. i spoke to dr. sanjay gupta and dr. drew pinsky on host of dr. d drew. what do you make of this report of whitney being seen drinking in the hotel over the weekend? >> a couple things, anderson. one is -- i hate to think that we have to have this report of humiliating behavior to understand that simply, if she's drinking she's in harm's way. the fact that there were multiple reports of her toasting and partying a couple nights before her death, should have been enough for anyone near her to understand that she was in real serious trouble. we don't have to, necessarily, bring in these other stories that sound rather humiliating but not surprising. the fact is the level of consumption that's being report begins to make sense in terms of the potential of causing respiratory suppression. adding that alcohol to the level that's been reported to one or two of those benbenzo could kee her from breathing. >> don't plenty of people that take xanax drink and not end up dead? >> anderson, people are accusing me of getting excited about this story and i'm getting angry and i want people to listen because this is something i've been fighting most of my career as an addictionologyist. people don't understand how problematic these medicines are, especially if someone has a addiction. it's a life-threatening exposure when they're exposed to this medication and add to that, how many stories have we reported of people, celebrities, dying pharmaceutical deaths and these are the medicines always involved with that. >> are you saying that anybody who has had a past history of drug use can never drink? >> can never drink? >> people would say, so she was having some drinks, that doesn't necessarily mean she was relapsing, does it? >> anderson, i'm trying not to get as excited as i've been the last couple nights on this show. categorically, that's a severe relapse. she's not somebody in the early stages of addiction. she's somebody that has had many years of severe addiction. had been treated three times and, believe me, anderson, in each of those treatments, abstinence was the goal and they insisted upon that in every treatment. the fact that she went as recently as last may and come out and she and the people around her think that partying without alcohol is, somehow, okay because her problem is other drugs? that's -- it shows that the treatments were, abject failures. she didn't need to be parading around at parties. she didn't need to be working on a movie. her life was in danger and we should have known that four months ago. >> sanjay, you've reported a lot on doctor shopping, going to multiple doctors for different prescriptions. there's no evidence that whitney houston did that and coroners say they're ruling that out so that's why their subpoenaing and in contact with pharmacies and doctors. you had done a report on just how easy it is to get multiple prescriptions. i want to show some of that. >> yes, sir? >> that took about 15 minutes. i walked in with my prescription. $20 on my charge card. they asked me for my address and i walked out with 40 pills of narcotics. >> how does that happen? >> well, you know, one thing i want to point out, as you said, there's no evidence or at least suggestion of doctor shopping here. but what i was trying to show in that report was that the regulation, the sort of keeping tabs on people filling these types of prescriptions, is pretty woefully inadequate in just about every state. you have a prescription from one doctor. you go to one pharmacy and ten minutes later go to another pharmacy and fill another prescription and when you start aggregating all these medicines you get a lot of different pills and it's very hard for someone that wants to get these pills, maybe not the fault of the doctor, maybe not the fault of the pharmacy, it's the system is not designed to be able to catch people like that and you can see within 15 minutes what i was able to do. >> and dr. drew, there's going to be people watching this who are taking multiple prescriptions for things who are going to get worried do i know the interaction of all these drugs. the point you make time and time again that they should be, for an addict, an addict is more likely to take extra. to take more than the doctor has told him to take? >> that's right. and it doesn't take much extra, by the way. in their mind they're probably taking it "as prescribeled." and their perception is that it's safe. she's alleged to have had valiuvalium lor raz pam and zanex. >> one is that you always hear from the doctor when you get these pills don't take it with alcohol. and i think it's been this perception that that's not a great idea but i'll be fine if i do. >> i'll tell you've taken things that i wasn't supposed to take with alcohol with alcohol and thought, how bad can it be? like an am beyen or something like that? >> 1 in 20 people do this over the age of 12, these are alarm st statistics. 1 in 20 people misuse the medication. take too much, take it the wrong way or combine it with other things and a lot of them aren't addicts. the addicts may have a higher tolerance so maybe it takes more but for someone who doesn't do that and they have an accidental overdose this is an important message for like what anderson is saying, the average person thinks, not a great idea but it's not going to kill me. >> and i believe this whitney houston is not going tore doctor shopping. she didn't have to shop. she is an addict and was given the benzos and if that was in the bathroom, nooertd you or i can think of any circumstance where any patient should have all three of those medications. >> we'll have more with both these guys in just a moment. the whole notion of the dangers of mixing a sleeping pill with two glasses of wine, really eye-opening. and we'll dig deeper into the celebrity culture and how it may be a destructive force in the life of a recovering addict. stay with us. join us on facebook, google plus and add us to your circle or follow me on twitter tonight. later, video from syria makes your blood boil. a child fleeing, apparently as a sniper takes aim at the child. pretty unbelievable. that's not all that's happening. the regime denies most of it. we're "keeping them honest" and arwa damon is on the ground in homs. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. well, the breaking news tonight, the details of the death of whitney houston. she was seen drinking heavily wednesday and thursday morning prior to her death. dr. sanjay gupta is weighing in on this. we talk about celebrity culture and how it affects addiction. one of the reasons we are covering the story beyond the tragedy of whitney houston. i was listening to her music last night. it hits you time and time again, what a tragedy this is. what a waste it is, regardless of the cause of her death. this is a larger story. the story of prescription abuse and the dangers of prescription drugs is important. >> absolutely. i have been -- >> i want to show you something celine dionne said. this was on "good morning america." >> when you think of elvis presley and michael jackson and marilyn monroe and amy winehouse, to get into drugs like that for whatever reason if it's because of the stress and bad influence, what happens? what happens when you have everything? what happens when you have love, your family, support, motherhood? you have responsibiliies of a mother, then something happens and it destroys everything. there's something that happens that i don't understand and that's why i'm so scared. i'm so scared of showbiz and drugs. >> does that miss the point? is it about showbizness? this is a larger issue as well? no? >> my addicted patients when they die they die a pharmaceutical death without exception. this is the third night i'm saying this on your show, anderson. i urge people to think back to the rock stars of the last 20 to 30 years who used drugs. the exception heroin, they are still with us. they are still alive. the ones who graduate to the prescription drug, the last five years we've seen this tidal wave of this. celine dionne is not an addict, but listed all the people who died. there are many, many more. they are all pharmaceutical deaths. what happens in hollywood is a reflection of what's going on in this country. >> do you think it -- is somebody -- we hear about it so much when it's celebrities but it's happening every few seconds and minutes in the united states. you and i have talked about this, dr. drew. is there something that drives people to be a celebrity and in the public eye that is more likely to drive them to seek a high? >> yes. they do have more trauma. they tend -- explicit objective research on this. i've published this. yes, they have more trauma and the genetic heritage of addiction. and narcissistic epidemiology and celebrity ends up with power. so when they manifest their problems they manifest more severely. these are all independent contractors. they don't have an employer to come in and say, you're going to lose your job if you don't get it together. similarly, they have people around them that are afraid of losing their access to them and they have power. you remember depok chopra told us how he confronted michael jackson about his drug use and he was dismissed from the inner circle. they have the power to do it. >> it does seem, is an sanjay, that there are some doctors that like having celebrities in their lives and maybe more willing to prescribe them something just -- to kind of keep them in their lives? >> those celebrities expect that doctor to essentially, take care of them and get them the things they say they need but anderson, to your point earlier, you say there's a larger point and we talk about celebrities because they're famous and perhaps because they have access. a lot of people have these sorts of problems. and i can't stress that enough. we've talked about all these famous people but 1 in 20 people are misusing these medications right now. we may not hear about their deaths but every 19 minutes one of them will die so the warning about -- don't misuse these drugs -- isn't supposed to be polite. saying hey, if you think about it don't misuse this. it should literally say -- this could kill you. doctors don't like to say it but i think they need to in this case. >> what's the lesson, tonight, for someone taking multiple things. maybe they have a prescription for am beyen and xanax? do you just question your doctor as much as possible? >> i think you need to be transparent. i'm not condemning anybody in particular. a lot of patients that get these types of medications is because -- to get xanax and another anti-anxiety medication, probably not be forthright. any doctor would say, why are you taking all these various medications? but if you're somebody that's not an addict. i don't have a problem. i'm watching all this stuff. that's not me, i don't have to worry about this. yes, you do. you have to think about this. the next time you think about it, maybe because you've had a catastrophic event as a result of combining, misusing or overdosing on these medications. >> to me it's an eye-opener. i'm not a drinker. i'll have an occasional glass of win but the idea that i sort of -- if i'm going to take an ambien one night, i kind of poopoo the whole alcohol/drug combination thing. >> this is the third time our patient has mentioned ambien. >> i don't take ambien either. if i'm traveling or whatever on a plane -- >> i got that the first time you said it, i heard it. >> but -- >> no, i'm not. and i'm making fun of you. you're a great example of how cautious someone must be. you're someone who is trying to use these things intelligently. you saw the caution on the label so you're trying to be careful if i have a dallas of wine. i'm being careful. i'm not driving a vehicle. if you have two glasses of wine and an ambien, you really could be in harm's way. >> really? >> let me say one more thing. when you combine these things, we mentioned that they're synergistic. it tinkers with yohig high po p that will must thalmus. you can see how deadly that can be. >> your drive to breathe goes away? >> and, also, your swallowing mechanism becomes expressed and you can aspirate. this is an important conversation to have. again, a much larger issue than this one tragedy. dr. drew, appreciate it and sanjay, appreciate it. so to underscore, even legitimately prescribed medicine can kill with a combination of a couple of drinks but by the same token we do not know that we don't know what happened in the case of whitney houston. let's not get ahead but one fact is clear. if prescription drugs played a role in the death of whitney houston that wouldn't be the first time. michael jackson, looks fine, actually suffering from the addiction from propofol or what he called "milk." >> so he could -- i cared about him. i didn't want him to fail. i had no intentions of hurting him. >> just six months later, hollywood would be rocked by, yet, another death. actress brittany murphy who played eminem's love interest in "8 mile" and an ugly duckling that became a swan in the teen comedy "clueless." >> why am i listening to you to begin with? you're a virgin who can't drive. >> that was way harsh. >> the coroner ruled murphy's death at age 32 was an accident due to the combination of pneumonia, iron deficiency and multiple drug intoxication. murphy's husband and mother disputed the findings to larry king. >> for the record, a declarative statement, my wife had not taken any drugs that could harm her that morning. that is -- >> no drug overdose -- >> please. >> brittany was scared to -- >> she had a heart murmur. >> and heath ledger, known for his groundbreaking performance in the movie "brokeback mountain" where he played a gay cowboy opposite jake gillen hall. >> ledger died just months before the release of his biggest blockbuster "the dark knight." critics and audiences raved over his turn as the arch villain, the joker. >> no, no, you, you will complete me. >> ledger died from an accidental overdose of pain killers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills. he was only 28. winehouse's add were well known. but in the end, the singer wasn't done in by drugs in a ruling disputed by winehouse's father, the coroner said she died from an accidental alcohol poisoning. celebrities dying from drug and alcohol abuse isn't new. elvis presley, marilyn monroe, judy garland, anna nicole smith, just to name a few and recent deaths have focused attention on one of hollywood's dirty little secrets. doctors that make prescription drugs readily available to the stars. actress mckenzie phillips told us that despite her history as an addict, doctors willingly overprescribe pills. >> there's many doctors out there, perhaps, that may be enamored by a star and they're just trying to please their client but you have to have stars on the other end who use their fame to get these drugs. >> i'm sure that that is definitely something that helps them to get the doctor to give them whatever they want. i've been in that position myself. >> now, investigators also want to know. is that what happened to whitney houston? miguel marquez, cnn. we're joined next by the pastor that will deliver the eulogy. and arwa damon is watching a one-sided war with the government using everything it has to crush its people. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares on facebook. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink,