When you’ve by no means heard of cocaine bear, it’s a wild story! In 1985, Andrew Carter Thornton II, a drug smuggler who additionally occurred to be a former Kentucky narcotics officer, threw three duffel luggage of cocaine out of a airplane. Why? He’d overloaded the airplane, and security turned a difficulty mid-flight.
So, with the intention of retrieving the dumped cargo later, he jettisoned three luggage over the state of Georgia. The jettisoned luggage crash-landed within the Chattahoochee-Oconee Nationwide Forest close to Georgia’s border with Tennessee.
Not too lengthy after, an grownup feminine black bear discovered the baggage and chowed down on the bricks of cocaine. Now, why would a bear suppose cocaine is meals? One principle is that the medication have been possible minimize with flour and baking soda, giving it a pastry or dessert-like scent that acquired the bear’s consideration.
Sadly, just a few months later, a hunter discovered the bear lengthy useless from acute cocaine intoxication after ingesting a number of bricks of the drug. Thornton didn’t get away with it both, as authorities had already discovered his physique on a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee.
He apparently jumped from his airplane with a parachute strapped to his again and a bag of cocaine strapped to his entrance. However the parachute failed throughout descent, sending him plummeting to his loss of life.
This story birthed the legend of “Cocaine Bear,” which Hollywood later was a film launched in 2023. Nonetheless, the flick takes loads of inventive liberties, turning the bear right into a bloodthirsty coke fiend that goes on a homicide spree whereas intoxicated.
Is There a Hashish Bear Story?
Since hashish can develop within the wild, together with in areas the place bears roam, you’d suppose there could be loads of tales about bears getting stoned. And also you’d be proper! Even higher, in contrast to the tragic Cocaine Bear saga, which ended with fatalities, hashish bear tales are often lighthearted and amusing. Listed below are a few of the most well-known ones:
1. Colorado Bear and Weed Edibles
In 2020, a bear in Cotopaxi, Colorado, raided a resident’s outside freezer. The bear may not have come on the lookout for weed, however after an hour of rummaging by way of the freezer, it made off with a bag of marijuana edibles.
It additionally snagged a bag of frozen French fries, so that you don’t have to fret about the way it handled the munchies later. Whereas this isn’t as dramatic because the cocaine bear story, it exhibits how wild animals can simply mistake canna-treats for meals.
2. Home made Weed Cookie Bear Heist
In 2021, Lauren Vinopal was vacationing on Lake Tahoe with buddies, one in every of whom had proven up with a batch of cannabis-infused cookies. These cookies have been by accident left on the deck in a single day in a Tupperware container, attracting a nosy bear who determined to assist itself to the treats.
Whereas not one of the vacationers truly noticed the bear eat the cookies, they did discover the Tupperware container ripped to shreds. Beside the wreckage have been bear paw prints leaving the crime scene in a zigzagging sample, suggesting the bear would have failed a sobriety check.
3. The Bear Guardians of the Hashish
In 2010, police in British Columbia, Canada, tried to raid a suspected unlawful hashish farm and storage facility. However their plan was placed on pause after they met a gang of 10 to 13 black bears calmly guarding the property.
Whereas the bears weren’t aggressive, the police couldn’t threat approaching them with out first assessing the scenario. They later found that the property proprietor had been feeding the bears for a number of years, domesticating and utilizing them to maintain off intruders.
Ultimately, the police found out a means across the bears and apprehended two individuals on the property. As for the bears, authorities weren’t open to letting them return to the wild, as they’d turn into used to people and human meals. This made them extra prone to pose a hazard to public security, leaving conservation officers with the troublesome choice of probably placing them down.
4. The Colorado Dispensary Break-In
In 2019, the employees of the Bud Depot, a hashish dispensary in Lyon, Colorado, woke as much as attention-grabbing CCTV footage. Over the evening, a black bear broke by way of the shop’s again fence to succeed in its dumpster. The bear then wheeled its prize into an empty car parking zone, the place it spent hours making an attempt to get inside.
Sadly for the bear, the dispensary homeowners had the foresight to padlock the lid, thwarting our dumpster diver’s journey. Whereas we don’t know the precise contents of the bin that attracted the bear, it’s secure to imagine it was a mixture of hashish and meals leftovers.
5. The Freezer Raid of 2025
In Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada, a black bear broke into Brandon Halvorson’s home whereas he was on trip. The bear apparently let itself in by way of the canine door and made its strategy to the freezer, the place it chowed down on $500 value of meat.
The bear additionally helped itself to some raspberries and the home-owner’s weed stash, all of which have been conveniently within the freezer. In true Goldilocks’ trend, the intruder capped off its journey by making good use of Halvorson’s mattress.
In response to Halvorson, “I was wondering why he didn’t hang around. He didn’t touch the pantry and cupboard, and he didn’t open the fridge. Then I remembered I keep my weed in my freezer. I think it’s the weed that saved us. He probably got so paranoid and had to get the (heck) out. I can’t think of another reason he left half of the food behind.”
READ: 5 Vacation Presents Each Hashish Lover Will Admire
Are Bears Interested in the Scent of Hashish?
Bears are omnivores, that means that, such as you, they’ll eat each meat and crops. Like most predators, they rely closely on sight and scent to determine what’s edible. So, whereas the standard grizzly or black bear may not look after skunky hashish, they could need a style of a dessert pressure.
For instance, a dessert pressure like Gelato, which smells candy and creamy with notes of vanilla, berries, and citrus, will certainly catch a bear’s consideration. The identical goes for cannabis-infused treats like weed brownies and desserts, particularly since a bear’s sense of odor makes it naturally drawn to something candy and fragrant.
It’s Not Solely the Bears’ Fault
Because the human inhabitants expands, we proceed to push into territories the place bears and different wildlife as soon as roamed freely. This leaves them with shrinking searching grounds and fewer pure meals sources.
On prime of that, many individuals have developed a behavior of feeding bears meals they’d by no means discover within the wild. This has led to some bears associating people with straightforward, tasty meals, inflicting them to scavenge at campsites, properties, and trash cans. So, if a bear breaks into your stash for edibles or tasty-smelling buds, it’s not at all times random curiosity. We’ve unwittingly skilled them to go looking out human goodies.
That stated, there are steps you may take to cut back the danger of bears or different wild animals coming on your canna-snacks or flower. A number of the simplest embody:
- Safe Storage: Maintain edibles and flower in hermetic, odor-proof containers. This helps masks tempting scents that bears can choose up from miles away. A easy glass jar or purpose-made stash bag can go a good distance.
- Dispose Correctly: By no means toss hashish packaging, roaches, or leftover edibles in open trash bins. Bears will fortunately tear by way of rubbish for even the faintest whiff, so at all times use bear-proof bins when obtainable.
- Lock It Up: When you’re tenting or dwelling in bear nation, retailer your stash in a bear locker or inside a sealed, hard-sided car. Bears can simply break into tents, coolers, and even some automobiles in the event that they odor one thing good.
- Cease Littering: Keep away from leaving meals or cannabis-related objects mendacity round that may carry lingering scents.
- Be Aware Open air: Don’t carry strongly scented edibles or flower on lengthy hikes in bear-prone areas. When you should deliver them, hold them double-sealed and out of attain to keep away from turning your backpack right into a bear magnet.
- Cease Feeding Wild Animals: It’d really feel innocent and even variety, however feeding wildlife teaches them to depend on individuals for meals. Over time, this could make animals bolder, extra aggressive, and extra prone to trigger harmful encounters. So, cease it!
