Medical examiner: Scott Weiland died from toxic mix of drugs

MINNEAPOLIS — Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland died of a toxic mix of drugs that included cocaine, according to a medical examiner's office in Minnesota where he was found dead on his tour bus in early December.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said Friday that the 48-year-old Weiland had cocaine, alcohol and the amphetamine MDA — a drug similar to ecstasy — in his system. The medical examiner also noted a history of cardiovascular disease, asthma and multi-substance dependence.

Weiland's body was found on his tour bus in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington on Dec. 3. The report said the time of death was 8:27 p.m. and that the death was accidental.

Weiland's three-decade career in music also included solo albums and a spot in the supergroup Velvet Revolver.

He rose to fame with Stone Temple Pilots, which became one of the most commercially successful bands to come out of the early 1990s grunge rock movement. The band's 1992 debut album, "Core," sold 8 million units. Stone Temple Pilots broke up in 2003, and Weiland went on to front Velvet Revolver, alongside rock luminaries Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses and Dave Kushner of Wasted Youth.

The Stone Temple Pilots reunited in 2008 and split again in 2013.

Weiland's current band, Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts, had been scheduled to play a show in Medina, Minnesota, on Dec. 3, but it had been canceled a week earlier due to poor ticket sales.

Police said they found a small amount of cocaine in Weiland's bedroom and elsewhere on the tour bus, and briefly held a California man who was traveling with Weiland. But Bloomington Deputy Police Chief Mike Hartley said authorities won't pursue a drug charge against the man because it would be too difficult to prove the drugs belonged to him.

Weiland had a long string of drug- and alcohol-related arrests and stints in rehab. In 1995, he was arrested after deputies found him carrying crack and heroin. He pleaded guilty to felony heroin possession in 1998. And his arrests for drug possession and stints in rehab led the Stone Temple Pilots to cancel tour dates and contributed to their 2003 breakup.