The Sunshine Makers Page #6

Synopsis: The story of Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully, the unlikely duo at the heart of 1960s American drug counter-culture.
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
68
Year:
2015
101 min
71 Views


addiction,

because they often continued a

business way beyond what, you know,

prudence would dictate.

On top of that,

I'd slowly been getting less

and less enthusiastic,

about what I'd been doing.

Things were looking somewhat

darker in Haight-Ashbury.

That group that was still left

in the Haight-Ashbury started

to seem more like lost souls.

The age of the flower children

was gone.

It was a lot more

methamphetamine.

There was a lot more

murders and violence.

There was more presence

of the Hell's Angels

and other motorcycle groups.

It was a trip.

People that I

knew had peak experiences

and had the experience

of oneness,

still treating each other

really badly and dishonestly.

I still believe that

LSD was a good thing.

But I was no longer convinced

that it was the solution

to the world's problems.

But I got turned

on to biofeedback instruments.

I'm going to measure

the electrical activity

of my brain, as it leaks

out onto the scalp.

There were some early studies

done that related the brain waves

of Zen monks yoga masters to

particular brain wave patterns,

when they were meditating.

I saw brainwave biofeedback as a

possible way of teaching people

to reach that state

of oneness with the universe,

without having to use drugs.

So you're still

trying to turn the world on?

In a kinder, gentler way.

Yeah.

And then in late 1971, I

got a phone call telling me,

I was off the hook

for the Denver lab,

because the police hadn't

gotten a search warrant.

The state Supreme

Court had ruled

that the search was illegal.

And it was tremendously

liberating.

The road ahead was clear

for doing research

in lots of different directions.

Unless Nick did

something really foolish,

I'd somehow managed

to escape getting punished

for what I'd been doing.

So here

I am in St. Louis.

It's getting very

cold in Missouri.

And we decide to go traveling in

Mexico and taking a vacation.

Unbeknownst to me, a water pipe

broke in the house.

And the neighbors,

they could see

water running down the stairs.

The sheriff for that town

breaks in.

They go up to my bedroom.

They find the leak

in the bathroom nearby.

They also go into my closet, and

they find some psychedelics.

And then they

discovered the lab.

Powder LSD capable

of producing over

fourteen million tablets

of Orange Sunshine

was found in two locations.

It was in all

the papers.

I just didn't happen

to see the papers.

When I pulled up...

Driver, step outside slowly.

Five heavy duty guys with

shotguns jumped out and said...

If you make any sudden moves,

you'll be shot immediately.

What a country.

Keep your hands away from

your body and drop full down.

It was an "oh, sh*t"

moment.

Not that they have busted Nick,

I think I'm in deeper hot water.

I suspected there

was a good chance that Nick

would have things with him,

that would be used

as evidence against me.

Marijuana, LSD, some mescaline.

I made a personal

bet that he'd probably still

have that flow chart with him,

that showed him the process

for making LSD on one page.

It turned out he did.

Is the gamble of drug

exploration worth this?

Is it worth the physical

and mental risk as well?

Well a grand jury

was convened specifically

to investigate

Nick, Billy, and I.

I eventually hid out

in a friend's house.

While I was there, I got a phone

call from Billy Hitchcock.

And he told me, "I

have bad news for you."

Would you say

that you were a close

personal friend of Mr. Scully?

Yes, I would.

I advised him

of my tax problems.

I told him I was cooperating

with the government

where I would have

to reveal the whole situation.

He'd been indicted

for income tax evasion,

and he didn't see

any other way out.

Billy wasn't

the final piece in the puzzle.

He was that one in the middle

that you'd spend a half an hour

looking for.

And then once you find

that one, everything,

seems to fall into place.

Owsley

and Nick Sand gave Billy

large amounts

of money to send offshore

into Swiss bank accounts.

He would

launder money for us.

Noble he was not.

It's just like fishing.

You reel it in, and you

look at it, and you figure,

I can get a bigger

one than this.

So I'll tell him, "hey, you

know, I'll throw you back",

if you can give me

somebody else."

My

lawyer came and read off

the names of the unindicted

co-conspirators.

I said, "Lenny, put it plain."

What's an unindicted

co-conspirator?"

He said, "a snitch."

Someone who has turned

state's evidence against you."

I said, "Billy?"

It's just

another example of idealism

fading in the face of reality.

He offered to loan

me $10,000, which he encouraged

me to use to hire a lawyer,

so that I could also turn and

become a government witness.

Anybody can be turned.

The question is, how

much do you have to give

them in order for them to turn?

He said, Tim

is considering whether or not

to turn state's evidence.

Do the same

thing I did and make

a deal with the government.

I was shocked,

right down to the soles

of my feet.

I said,

I'll take the money

and I'll make my best choice.

I couldn't believe it.

Remain seated and come to order,

court will begin in session.

I realized that

if I did become a witness

against Nick, that

I would end up

feeling really bad about

myself for the rest of my life.

All right.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this next case...

The way

I'd end up feeling best

about myself would

be if I faced the music

and tried to fight the charges.

Billy ended up testifying

for a couple of days.

His testimony was

pretty damning.

They were manufacturing

LSD, somewhere between

three and four million tabs.

Pretty painful to hear.

Scully made just

about a million tablets.

They knew what

we did and where we did it.

Nick came

to the Bahamas.

There's a word

that kind of describes Billy.

It's in Yiddish, but it...

it is such a perfect word.

He's a schlub.

Yes.

I met with Mike Randall.

Billy Hitchcock's

a punk and he always was.

He's a rich guy.

Don't try to take

a rich guy's money away.

I never

held that against Billy.

I think most people

would save themselves.

The stupid thing was bringing

him to the laboratory.

That he had something...

You know, there were a lot

of those blunders

all along the line that

were just... yeah, just showoff

maneuvers that were dumb.

Ladies and gentlemen

of the jury...

The trial

judge, Samuel Conti,

is known as Hanging Sam.

Oh, Judge Conti

was a fine American.

He was one of our

favorite judges.

Judge Conti was tough.

But I think fair.

The events which are the

subject of this proceeding...

In one

of the pretrial proceedings,

he said he wished he had

access to the death penalty

in our case, which

gave us a pretty

good clue of what he was going

to do in terms of sentencing.

And the man was just...

Objection, your honor.

Motion to strike.

Why don't you both

approach the bench.

Every motion that

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