Chilean Miners Smoked Cannabis Underground, media smears them for it

edmonton.ctv.ca...

With hope dwindling that rescuers would find them and their starving bodies on the verge of shutting down, the 33 trapped Chilean miners turned to thoughts of suicide and cannibalism, according to a new book.

But American author Jonathan Franklin -- who has written an extensive account of their time underground and their rescue in the just released book "33 Men" -- says those moments were outliers.

"Obviously, the men are starving to death . . . they looked for bugs, they couldn't find bugs, they ate every orange peel they could find in that mine . . . they talked about suicide, they talked about cannibalism, but these were passing fears," he told CTV.ca in a telephone interview. "It was never like they all thought about suicide, or cannibalism."

"These were temporary subjects in an epic struggle. These guys would have never have lived and survived if they had been completely focused on suicide."

It goes on to say that some of their family members (once contact was made) sent cannabis down with their letters/packages.

This is where I feel the media spin kicks in.
Google the headline/title of this thread, and read any story that comes up.

They don't mention how much the plant helped cheer the men up, they go straight to the strife it caused among the men because there wasn't enough to go around...

One miner, Samuel Avalos, noticed how a group of his colleagues would peel away, he suspected, to smoke the drug.

But, he said they "never even offered me one" although he was desperate to relieve the stress of his predicament...

So what's the most logical thing to suggest (according to what I've read) ? No, not to send more down to make them all happy and comfortable, but to use drug sniffing dogs so that NONE of the men can have any.

And within a paragraph, every story goes right on to talk about the guys asking for blowup dolls and masturbation material.... I think that's a bunch of crap and an obvious attempt at making them look like deviant stoner jerkoffs.

Meanwhile you can turn on the tv at any time of the day and they're practically shoving deadly alcohol down our throats and making it look cool, and the moderators here will put this in an out-of-the-way forum while allowing open, glowing, candid discussion of alcohol abuse and how fun it is...

Originally posted by WhizPhiz
and if they sent some beer down everyone would be like "Oh, how kind of them, that's probably just what they needed in those horrific times."

Not to mention all the celebratory shots of champagne and other drinks played all over tv when major progress was made...

reply to post by alaskan


Wow, I am surprised two-fold by this story. Firstly, I think majority of people can not only understand but accept that the miners smoked marijuana while they were trapped. It might have been at times the only thing that brought any comfort or peace to the miners. Secondly, Canada is the one reporting on this? I mean, come on, we know the reputation of British Columbia.

The U.S seems to have a heavy hand in canada now as far a drug policy is concerned. Marc Emery was martyred and people have yet to steam roll public officials for it...

One miner, Samuel Avalos, noticed how a group of his colleagues would peel away, he suspected, to smoke the drug.

You know some moron wrote this

reply to post by welshbeliever


please don't post stuff like this, it's exactly the kind of stuff moderators say isn't allowed and the reason a lot of threads get binned/moved

Originally posted by SmokeandShadow
The U.S seems to have a heavy hand in canada now as far a drug policy is concerned. Marc Emery was martyred and people have yet to steam roll public officials for it...

I'm still disheartened over what happened to Emery. Originally, they wanted to charge him with 1,000 life sentences.

Could you imagine if someone tried to charge the miners?

There are few things in life that should grant you leniency, and I think this case fits wholly into that category. I think we should be more happy that they made it out alive without having to resort to cannabilism.

This explains the increase in earthquakes around the world...

Butterfly Effect...
"Even the flutter of a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world"

When you stop and think about that... then it makes perfect sense...

Chilean Pot smoking Miners are to blame...

Let's go back to the Butterfly Effect...
"Even the coughs of a Chilean Miner can cause a Earth Quake on the other side of the world"

-shew- I can relax now... and I thought it was the end of the world!!! haha


btw... i'm gonna S&F this thread

reply to post by alaskan


Oh, and if they sent some beer down everyone would be like "Oh, how kind of them, that's probably just what they needed in those horrific times."

I remember some show on pbs showing them popping champagne when one of the larger drills bored through to them, and there were positive/jokey reports when they asked for beer.

reply to post by alaskan


Misread.

reply to post by Dendro


Haha .. no brah, but they did resort to cannabism, which is almost as bad, if not worse.
At least from what I heard at school.

I am dutch. Don't have to tell you what my standpoint is. This type of journalism is a good example of fear instigating crap. People always have to be judgemental to using cannabis. Here in Holland we see it as a SOFT drugs. Alcohol for example is an HARD drugs. What is the use for smearing those miners? Havent't they got other issues on their mind right now like PTSS for example for looking death in the eyes? Obviously to fill the newspaper by lack of real news i think.

It is probably a good thing they had some mj while down there. It probably calmed them down a bit and helped them to relax.

It doesn't surprise me they are making it out to seem like a bad thing. The world needs to grow up when it comes to this plant. Alcohol kills more people than marijuana ever could...you can't die from it!

S&F

haven't anyone

wondered what you would do at the end of the world or being trapped in a mine explosion?


same here, grab your choice of drug and .....do what u got to do to mentally stay alive.

i just told my wife if im ever traped in a mine to send enough weed down for everyone. that way this kinda of horrible tragic event of not having enough for everyone will never happen again

reply to post by alaskan



S& F.

If I'd been in their situation I'd have been smoking it like Cheech & Chong.

Seriously, give them some slack.

How's the saying go? I think it applies to the media, to paraphrase: none would so tear down someone as those who would first build them up.

Hmm,I am not sure if that would have helped them much in such a confined space in such dire circumstances...
I mean they were talking about suicide and cannibalism.
Doesn't cannabis make people paranoid and intensify feelings?

I wouldn't have wanted to be in a super scary situation only to have it possibly made worse by smoking some weed.
Its a wonder none of them lost the plot worrying that their buddies were going to eat them as soon as they passed out/went to sleep.

Plus it must have sucked even more for those who weren't smoking as the air down there was probably bad enough without filling it with smoke.

Think I would have gone for meditation and regular excercise if I was stuck down there.
But each to their own.

sorry,double post.
Damned KB sucks.

These people were down there for like 4 straight months and to demonize them for toking is wrong. This is odds are what kept them sane and level and not resorting to suicide or cannibalism.