Image copyright PA Image caption Ecstasy was also found in the pills of the ‘Mad World’ singer
Musician Bryan Adams has tested positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine in Italy.
Italian police say the “successful” test may indicate he was taken ill in Sardinia while on tour last month.
They are also investigating his driver for causing his “bad odour” in a hotel.
Adams, 56, has denied any health issues. He issued a statement, saying he has “nothing to hide”.
Co-ordinated search
In a statement on Twitter, Adams said: “I would like to make it clear that I had absolutely no idea I was taking a prohibited substance.”
The Canadian singer is not due to perform until June.
Earlier on Wednesday, a small statement appeared on his website, saying that police had issued a “co-ordinated search” of an apartment and his father’s house in the Italian holiday island of Ischia.
He said there was nothing in the search or the results of the tests that should be considered significant, adding: “I never requested nor was given any medical help by a doctor for any apparent health concerns.”
Adams will next appear on the road in Russia, Mexico and Latin America.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Adams has performed shows all over the world
Italy’s anti-drug agency says Adams would face no penalty in the country if he reported the result.
Speaking to the Italian website Telelogo, spokesman Matteo D’enascio said: “Pseudoephedrine is a pill that, in its pure form, is perfectly legal in Italy.”
Although it has become a readily available problem in recent years, he said, the agency had not received any claims about Adams or any other celebrity case in Italy.
The 2010 film Easy A, which starred Emma Stone and Emma Stone, ended with the pair “getting high on MDMA”, according to Biography.com.
But drug expert Zoltan Melesko said ecstasy can have a positive impact for people who take it just occasionally: “This makes it dangerous for a long period of time, either this person might be willing to put someone else’s life in danger or he might jeopardise his own. Both these possibilities are reason enough to report it.”
‘Hospitals struggling’
Police interviewed Adams in Sardinia last month and found ecstasy in his hotel room, website Vogue Italia said.
The request is investigating whether the pills found had been handed out to concert-goers or if there was an organised attack on the singer, BBC Newsnight reports.
A nurse at a hospital on Ischia said its speciality was treating health problems caused by ecstasy and she believed Adams was treating a pyschotic disorder, as well as an abdominal one.
“It is nothing unusual, but hospitals in Sardinia are struggling to deal with the numbers of these illnesses due to the outside world using these drugs,” she said.