Coroner: Houston used cocaine, drowned

LOS ANGELES, March 22 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said Whitney Houston used cocaine immediately before she drowned in a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel bathtub.

The recording star died Feb. 11 at age 48 after battling drug and alcohol addiction for years.

Officials waited until toxicology tests were completed before announcing the cause of death as accidental drowning Thursday.

TMZ quoted Coroner Chief Craig Harvey as saying test results suggested Whitney was a "chronic" cocaine user.

Also found in her system were marijuana, Benadryl, Flexeril and Xanax, but Harvey said they did not significantly contribute to her death, TMZ reported.

A source close to Houston told the celebrity news Web site an individual removed cocaine from the hotel room before authorities arrived. The insider said the person who took the cocaine had also supplied it.