It's to bad you didn't have the chance to judge it for yourself.
We went and it was a great experience. So good that we went to another Tiger place in Chiang Mai later in our trip.
People seem to think that due to how docile the tigers are, that they must be drugged. Thinking back to my childhood and going to the zoo, when we were looking at the tigers, we were always thrilled when one stretched a bit and moved for a second. Basically, they sleep all day.
During our time at the Tiger Temple, we had 1 hour with 3 - 5 week old tiger cubs, feeding them and playing with them. These tigers grow up from an early age with tons of human interaction. I didn't find it unusual at all for them to be very tolerant of humans once grown.