WHITE COUNTY, Ga. — A retired Georgia Bureau of Investigation drug agent is debunking a new movie, about a bear that goes on a rampage after eating cocaine dropped from a smuggler’s plane.

The movie is loosely based on a bear, found dead in the North Georgia woods.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan went to White County to get the real story behind “Cocaine Bear.”

What happens when you mix a lot of cocaine with a big black bear? Mayhem of course.

The new horror-comedy hit claims to be inspired by true events.

A bear in Blue Ridge, Georgia wolfs down pounds of cocaine thrown out of a plane and goes on a rampage. Some of that is true.

Fran Wiley was the special agent in charge at the GBI’s Gainesville office in 1985.

“A hunter had found a black bear that was decomposed along with a parachute and duffle that was empty,” Wiley said.

She says drug smuggler Andrew Thorton and a partner dumped hundreds of pounds of Colombian cocaine from a plane into north Georgia while being chased by federal authorities.

“I think we recovered about 220 pounds that he had dumped in Georgia,” Wiley said.

She says the state medical examiner found just three grams of 90% pure cocaine in the bear’s system and that’s what killed the animal.

“He may have eaten more than that, but this is what we found in his system,” Wiley said.

Thorton plunged from the plane after his parachute failed to open. He was found dead in Knoxville.

As for the bear, he died too. No drama, no rampage, and no mayhem.

“Are you going to see the movie?” Regan asked Wiley.

No, I have better things to do with my $20,” Wiley answered.

Wiley says a store in Lexington, Kentucky claims to have the cocaine bear - a stuffed version.

She says like the movie, it’s a cash-making gimmick.

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