He wasn't on my radar for a while but a few years ago when I saw pics he looked painfully thin. I figured he was either coked out or turned vegan. By the sounds of this he didn't go vegan.
I didn't like his music beyond BadMotorFinger, but he could certainly sing his ass off.
worst part about this is that out of the big 5 of grunge, Cornell, Cobain, Staley and Weiland are dead and the one who honestly deserves to die, Vedder, is still trotting along.