The actor River Phoenix had his life cut short in the prime of his life through a “recreational” drug overdose.

The news agency, Reuters, has just reported from London that more than three percent of sudden deaths in Europe were related to cocaine use and many of them were brought on by a “lethal cocktail” of the drug, alcohol and cigarettes, scientists said.

Results of a study on sudden deaths showed there was no such thing as safe recreational cocaine use, the researchers said, and suggested the 12 million Europeans who use cocaine are putting their lives on the line.

“The notion that recreational cocaine use is safe should be dispelled, since even small amounts may have catastrophic consequences, including sudden death,” Joaquin Lucena, head of forensic pathology at Spain’s Institute of Legal Medicine, said.

They found that many sudden cocaine deaths were in men aged 21 and 45, and 81 percent of them smoked, while 76 percent had also drunk alcohol.

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