Reports have surfaced that pop superstar Michael Jackson was spending as much as $48,000 per month on prescription drugs, including Demerol and Diprivan.

A sidelight of this story is the pharmacy that news reports say filled and delivered many of those orders: Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill in Beverly Hills.

Mickey Fine is a pretty snazzy-looking place. It was originally one of those legendary Schwab Pharmacies where starlets were discovered while drinking milkshakes. As recently as March, it was a featured location in the Starz comedy series “Head Case.”

It’s not the kind of place you would normally associate with supplying a prescription drug habit.

Let me be clear: there is absolutely no evidence that Mickey Fine has done anything wrong here. But I hope its involvement in the Michael Jackson case will help us to think twice about preconceptions and stereotypes when it comes to prescription drug abuse.

Opponents of American citizens buying drugs from Canada have worked hard to associate online pharmacies with the increase in prescription drug abuse — although there is absolutely not one shred of statistical evidence to support this claim.

The fact is, while it’s certainly possible to use online pharmacies to feed a drug habit, it’s just as easy to borrow medications from friends, sneak them out of your parents’ medicine cabinet — or to get prescriptions from multiple doctors and fill them at a place like Mickey Fine.