WIDOW BLAMES DRUGS FOR BONO'S ACCIDENT

Sonny Bono's secret battle with prescription drugs contributed to his death
in a skiing accident last January, his widow says.

Rep. Mary Bono, who replaced Bono as a lawmaker from Palm Springs, told TV
Guide that her husband took painkillers for chronic back pain and neck
problems aggravated by a neck injury in 1995. Bono was taking 15 to 20
pills a day at the time he died, she said in the magazine's Nov. 28 issue.

"I am 100 percent convinced that is why he died," she said. "What he did
showed absolute lack of judgment. That's what these pills do. They take
away your thought process."

Checked-by: Pat Dolan