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Monteith shooting heroin, drinking champagne when he died

Cory Monteith, pictured in Montreal in 2011. (John R. Kennedy / Global News). John R. Kennedy / Global News

TORONTO – Canadian actor Cory Monteith was drunk and shooting heroin when he died in a Vancouver hotel room in July.

According to the final report by B.C. coroner Claire Thompson, first responders at the scene found a “spoon with drug residue and a used hypodermic needle” as well as two empty champagne bottles.

The official cause of death was “mixed drug toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol.” It was ruled accidental.

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The report, dated Sept. 16, said Monteith had a blood alcohol level of 0.13 percent. Traces of morphine and codeine were also found in his system.

READ MORE: See the coroner’s final report

Thompson also noted Monteith, who was 31, had “a history of illicit drug use with intermittent periods of rehabilitation and of abstinence from drugs.”

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The coroner suggested the Glee star’s tolerance levels were likely diminished because he had completed rehab only months earlier.

“After a period of cessation from opioid drug use, a previously tolerated drug concentration level may become toxic and fatal,” the report reads.

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