Weiland has joined a new band with Guns 'n' Roses members

The 35-year-old, whose band became stars of the grunge scene in the early 1990s, was stopped in Los Angeles on Saturday, police said.

He was released on $10,000 (�6,125) bail on Sunday and is due in court on 2 June.

Weiland has been in trouble with the law over drug problems on several occasions since his band hit the big time, and was sentenced to one year in jail in 1999.

Police would not say which drug he was alleged to have had on him in the latest incident.

Officers found the substance during a routine traffic search, Lieutenant John Bilibert said.

Supergroup

"Officers made a traffic stop in a closed business district... they searched the car because they saw a syringe and found narcotics," he said.

The driver, Jennifer Sires, 25, was also arrested on suspicion of narcotics possession.

Weiland was jailed in 1999 for violating his probation after being convicted of heroin possession in 1998.

He recently formed a new band, Reloaded, with former Guns 'n' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. They are due to release an album next year.

The Stone Temple Pilots' 1992 debut album, Core, sold three million copies, while the follow-up, Purple, went to number one in the US two years later.