Man who sourced fentanyl-laced pill given to Mac Miller has been sentenced to 11 years

A man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for selling fake pharmaceutical pills laced with fentanyl to Mac Miller.

Ryan Michael Reavis, 39, was one of three men charged in connection with the musician's death in 2018. He pleaded guilty to one count of distributing fentanyl on November 30, 2021.

He has been sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison, The Guardian reports. The consumption of this pill is believed to be what led to Mac Miller's (real name Malcolm McCormick) death in 2018.

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Miller passed away after taking a lethal amount of fentanyl - a drug deemed to be 50 times more potent than heroin - which, combined with other drugs, can be fatal. In Miller’s autopsy, he was found to have accidentally overdosed on fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.

According to case records, a judge in US district court in LA sentenced Reavis to 10 years and 11 months in prison. However, prosecutors asked the judge, Otis Wright II, for a changed sentence of 12 years and seven months.

Reavis been sentenced to 131 months (10 years, 11 months) and will be on supervised release for three years.

Reavis' attorney described him as a "runner" and claimed he did not know the pills contained a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Investigators examining the rapper's death has found old messages showing Reavis was continuing the sell the pills, nicknamed fake blues, even though “people have been dying left and right”. Dealers often lace drugs with fentanyl as a way of making the product stronger while keeping costs low.

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Reavis had admitted that he got prescription painkillers laced with the potent opiate from a man named Stephen Walter. On Walter’s orders, Reavis then left them with a a third co-defendant, Cameron Pettit, in LA.

“Mac Miller was loved and admired by so many,” said law specialist Cori Ferrentino. “He fought many of the same demons related to addiction that Mr Reavis has fought his whole life. It is not lost on Mr Reavis for one minute that he will be able to return to his family and Mac Miller will not.”

Miller had a history of drug use but had never overdosed. He was open about his struggles with addiction and mental health in his music.

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Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter