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SOME of the trapped Chilean miners got high after cannabis was smuggled down to them, according to a new book.

Friends and relatives also inserted porn into the 10ft lengths of piping known as “carrier pigeons” to the 33 men who were underground for 69 days.

A book by Jonathan Franklin, a New York Times journalist, reveals that one miner, Samuel Avalos, noticed some of his colleagues acting suspiciously.

“They were peeling away from the group, wandering towards the bathroom, to smoke a joint,” he said. “They never even offered me a toke. When you saw five headed up to the bathroom, you knew what they were doing.”

Mr Avalos said he was desperate to have a smoke himself to relieve the stress of being underground so long. “We went over to the area where the guys used bulldozers, we knew they smoked marijuana,” he said.

“They worked inside a plastic cab that protected them and they could smoke a joint and then smoke a cigarette and no one would know.”

In 33 Men, Franklin writes: “Having small amounts of drugs circulating in the community created more tension than it relieved, instigated jealousies and threatened to alter basic tenets of the communal living conditions.

“Officials from the Chilean government became so concerned that they discussed getting a drug-sniffing dog.”

The book also reveals that a request for blow-up dolls was refused because they could not get hold of 33 of them and did not want the men to share.

The doctor who assessed the men’s health needs from the surface, Jean Romagnoli, explained: “A guy offered them inflatable dolls but he only had 10. I said ‘33 or none’. Otherwise they would be fighting over them.”

Franklin added: “The men’s greatest need would not fit down the tube: women. With physical health improving rapidly, sex became a topic of conversation for the miners and the rescue team.” Instead of blow-up dolls, they received pornography and posters.

It has also been revealed that the men regularly spoke of committing mass suicide and even contemplated cannibalism as doubts grew about whether they would ever be freed.

Their rescue last October – winched up one by one via a tube – prompted scenes of joy and relief at the mine and was watched by an estimated one billion TV viewers.

The 33 men became national heroes and Chile’s government vowed to improve safety underground.