The movie Cocaine Bear is based on the true story of a bear that overdosed in a Georgia forest

Photo bySimon InfangeronUnsplash

The film Cocaine Bear is a horror/comedy about a bear that accidentally overdoses on drugs dropped from a plane and then goes on a rampage, mauling everyone in sight. While it seems like an implausible premise, the crux of the story is actually based on real events from 1985.

On December 22nd of that year, the New York Times ran a short story that included the line: "A 175-pound black bear apparently died of an overdose of cocaine after discovering a batch of the drug, The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said today."

How did this come to pass?

The drugs had indeed fallen out of the sky and into the mountains in Chattahoochee National Forest, in north Georgia. There, they were found by the Ursus who fittingly came to be known as "Pablo Escobear."

The drugs were being smuggled into the US from Colombia by a man named Andrew Carter Thornton, who was a former Kentucky narcotics investigator turned drug smuggler. No one knows why he dropped the duffel bag full of drugs where he did, but it's theorized that he was trying to shed some weight from the plane to avoid a crash.

There were also three other duffel bags full of drugs found near the scene that the bear didn't touch.

How much cocaine did the bear consume?

When the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found the black bear based on a tip from a hunter, it had been dead for about a month. An investigation revealed it had "three to four grams of cocaine in its bloodstream although it may have eaten more."

The duffel bag of drugs that the bear ripped apart originally contained 88 pounds worth of cocaine. When the bear was found, very little cocaine was left in the bag. However, investigators believe humans may have taken some of the stash as well.

What did the bear do after overdosing?

It's not known how long it took the bear to die but unlike the movie, it didn't go on a rampage and kill a swath of humans in its path.

The only human death linked to this story is that of drug smuggler Andrew Carter Thornton, who was found in Tennessee with 77 pounds of cocaine strapped to his body. According to Wikipedia, he'd "become caught in his parachute and ended up in a free fall to the ground." His auto-piloted plane ultimately crashed in North Carolina.

It was the discovery of his body and the cocaine that prompted a search for the remainder of his cargo and led the Georgia authorities to find the remains of the ill-fated bear.