Corey Haim, shown in 1987, was known for roles in 1980s films such as The Lost Boys and Lucas. (Warner Bros./Associated Press)

California's attorney general says Toronto-born actor Corey Haim obtained more than 550 prescription pills illegally in the three months before his death.

Speaking in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jerry Brown said the actor obtained the medications, which included Valium and Soma, through seven different doctors. Brown says investigators have talked to the doctors and they appear to have been duped.

Haim died March 10 after collapsing in his mother's apartment in Los Angeles. The star of 1980s films such as The Lost Boys, Lucas and License to Drive, Haim had struggled with drugs for 20 years.

He was also suffering from flu-like symptoms before his death.

Brown called Haim a "poster child" for prescription drug abuse, saying he sought out drugs through at least seven different doctors and pharmacies. He also used hospital emergency rooms to obtain prescriptions.

Brown said the problem of prescription abuse is not confined to celebrities.

"We think it illustrates a problem that is more widespread," Brown said, adding that his office has pursued more than 200 such cases statewide.

The activities described by Brown Tuesday are separate from a fraudulently obtained prescription for Oxycontin Haim may have obtained. That prescription for Oxycontin was found during an investigation into a ring that illegally obtained prescription pads and used stolen doctor identities.

Brown, who is running for governor of California, said the doctors who prescribed medications to Haim told investigators they felt duped.

He said Haim was able to get the medications by complaining of specific symptoms, such as shoulder pain.

Investigators were able to trace the medications obtained by Haim through a state database that monitors prescriptions, Brown said.

Coroner's officials have said they found four prescriptions in Haim's name in the apartment where he collapsed, and all were prescribed by a doctor treating the actor.

The coroner's office is awaiting toxicology reports on Haim before ruling on a cause of death. An autopsy revealed he had an enlarged heart, pneumonia and water in the lungs.