Drugs found in Houston's hotel room

A coroner's official says some prescription medicines were found in the hotel room where Whitney Houston died but not in large quantities.

Houston was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was pulled from a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub, and she had prescription drugs in her room, officials said on Monday as the pop star's family made arrangements to fly her body home to New Jersey for a funeral at the end of the week.

Authorities said that there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston's body but that it could be weeks before the coroner's office completes toxicology tests that could establish the cause of death.

The 48-year-old singer struggled for years with cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her behaviour had become erratic.

Houston was found underwater on Saturday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel by a member of her staff at about 3:30pm (local time), hours before she was supposed to appear at pre-Grammy Awards gala, police Lt Mark Rosen said.

She was pulled from the tub by members of her staff, and hotel security was promptly notified, Rosen said. She was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.

'As of right now, it's not a criminal investigation,' he said, refusing to release any further details. 'We have concluded our portion of the investigation at the hotel.'

Los Angeles coroner's assistant chief Ed Winter said there were bottles of prescription medicine in the room. He would not give details except to say: 'There weren't a lot of prescription bottles. You probably have just as many prescription bottles in your medicine cabinet.'

The coroner's office released the body to the family late on Monday morning. Two people who spoke with Houston's family said the singer would be taken to New Jersey. The two, who spoke on condition of anonymity said Houston's family raised the possibility of a wake on Thursday and a funeral on Friday at Newark's Prudential Centre, which can seat about 18,000.

Houston was born in Newark and raised in nearby East Orange. She began singing as a child at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years.

A sensation from her first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, turning out such hits as I Wanna Dance With Somebody, How Will I Know, The Greatest Love of All and I Will Always Love You. But as she struggled with drugs, her majestic voice became raspy, and she couldn't hit the high notes.

On Monday, mourners continued to leave flowers, balloons and candles at the wrought-iron fence around the tall brick Newark church where she got her start.

It sits near an abandoned housing project and the train line leading to New York City.

'She was an inspiration to everybody,' said Gregory Hanks, an actor who grew up in the neighbourhood and who dropped off a bouquet of flowers. He saw Houston perform at the New Jersey Performing Arts Centre years ago.

'I grew up listening to her as a little boy, and to hear her sing, you knew she was special,' he said.

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Drugs found in Houston's hotel room