2009-08-03 01:24:22 -

MICHAEL JACKSON's drug use has been exposed in a hard-hitting new U.S. TV special - with pal GOTHAM CHOPRA insisting the King of Pop always knew how to get the painkillers he craved.
The pop star admitted to a "dependency on

pain medication" in a message to fans a decade ago, explaining he had started taking drugs in an effort to deal with the agony of reconstructive surgery on his scalp, following a fiery accident on a Pepsi commercial in 1984.
Records show Jackson checked into rehab at least once and the singer told friends he was managing his addiction - but Chopra insists there were always doctors willing to get him the drugs he needed on the quiet.
He told news show Dateline, "Michael used his celebrity and he would befriend doctors and he knew how to get the stuff that he wanted. He had all sorts of doctors all over Beverly Hills, frankly, that... enabled him." One of the star's former bodyguards echoes Chopra's comments, admitting, "One part of my job was to find a local doctor whenever we travelled... we always had to find out who the hotel doctor was and he (Jackson) would have conversations with the doctor and he would tell them he was in pain." And Chopra reveals there were always plenty of people around Jackson making sure the King of Pop got the drugs he needed: "As many people he had who cared about him, he also had probably five times as many people enabling him... He had people, frankly, who worked for him or who made money off of him, who just wanted to make sure that he could keep on doing whatever he was doing."