The Sunshine Makers

As someone who's life has been forever changed and shaped by the psychedelic experience. This documentary was a fantastic watch. It's amazing that two men have been instrumental in helping millions of people the world over open their minds to the multiverse that is psychedelic consciousness . One day these two will be seen as apostles of the new age and the context of this doco will be seen in another light. It is amazing to hear the stories straight from the horses mouth and this is a must watch for any true psychedelic warrior.

Greetings again from the darkness. "Turn on. Tune in. Drop out." For those of us born a bit too late to subscribe to Dr. Timothy Leary's call to action in the 1960's, our knowledge of the psychedelic era's drug culture is limited to what we've read, what we've been told and the alarming cautions blasted over the PA system in the Woodstock movie. Director Cosmo Feilding Mellen and writer Connie Littlefield tell the fascinating story of two of the biggest drug dealers you've never heard of, and the story will have you believing they could have been the inspiration behind TV's "Breaking Bad".

You would be hard-pressed to find two less similar business partners than Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully. Mr. Sand is the type who embraced the free-love and free-your-mind approach of the 60's, and we are subjected to his preference for nude yoga … something that bothers us much more than him. Mr. Scully was a science genius with a touch of Asperger's. What two agreed on was their mission of using LSD to create a more peaceful and loving society. They considered themselves "American Patriots".

The two drug dealers receive kid glove treatment from the filmmaker, and along with some video clips of the era, at times it feels a bit like "we're getting the band back together". There is a steady stream of those who were part of the operation, which was based at Billy Hitchcock's New York estate. Watching these 70-somethings reunite and discuss the good old days has a surreal feel at times, but what's clear is that they all have fond memories of each other.

Avoiding the authorities was obviously a key for these folks, and director Mellen even interviews the two agents who devoted the most time to tracking down Sand and Scully. We learn that the Brotherhood of Eternal Love (aka "the hippie mafia") was key to the distribution channel, and that the "Orange Sunshine" even made it to the soldiers on the frontline in Vietnam.

The interesting story doesn't end when Sand and Scully are arrested and inexplicably end up as cell mates at McNeil Island Penitentiary in Washington. Scully researches a loophole that allows the two to be released on bail. This leads to Sand becoming a 20 year fugitive from the law in Canada, while Scully ends up serving his sentence. Catching up with the two men fifty years after their first meeting still makes us wonder how they worked together so long … and it leads to Sand explaining they were LSD evangelists, and did "a better job than Jesus". Now back to more nude yoga.

Still young enough to know it all Tim Scully and Nick Sand decided on their own to make the world a better place by "dosing" it with LSD. In tight with frequent flyers and promoters of the drug Timothy Leary and Owsley Stanley they decided to manufacture and distribute "Orange Sunshine" throughout the country by way of the "Hippie Mafia" aka The Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Getting a late start and dismissed by authorities as a "kiddie drug" in comparison to heroin and coke the boys eventually came under closer scrutiny by the law and labs moved elsewhere. Eventually busted Scully and Sand ended up sharing the same cell in prison where a chastened Scully heads for the library and Sand smuggles LSD into the joint claiming he at one time dosed the entire prison. When Scully finds a loophole in the system they are both sprung on appeal. When it is denied Scully heads back to prison and Sand lights out for Canada and begins manufacturing again only to be caught 20 years later.

The Sunshine Makers is strictly a through the past lightly commentary on acid culture when it main streamed in the late 60s and early 70s. There are testimonials from our two groovy counter culture heroes regarding transcendence but little regarding bad trips and suicides as well as the cash flow or the profits they were reaping. Given its prominence in my neighborhood growing up as a teen and its use by vet friends in Viet Nam it fills in on the history of the phenomena but much of it with a sentimental nostalgia.

Now in their 70s the men along with former hippie chicks and retired detectives offer up interesting snippets of the time and era as well as reflect in dotage. Scully acts a little shell shocked but seems very much at peace and a little more rational about his youthful grand plan content these days to listen to brain waves. Sand on the other hand continues to lead trip sessions as well as practice nude yoga which the director places extra emphasis on perhaps to inform us of Sand's shaman like qualities but instead he comes across at times as a slovenly smug and bitter braggart in search of new ways to get laid. It is rather ironic that retired narcotics agent Patrick Clark seems the most self aware character in the present day. Grounded and introspective he lacks Sand's anger and Scully's catatonia without ever having walked through any "doors of perception."

The most common criticism made against this documentary is that this documentary glorifies Tim and Nick for their drug production and dealings. I don't think that is true at all considering Tim believed that LSD wasn't the be all and end all solution.

I think it tells a great tale, mostly from Nick and Tim's perspectives, but also from the law enforcement side too. Their personalities are so different and unique, it's really enjoyable to watch them go through the things they did.

This documentary told a sensationalized version of the truth and was intellectually dishonest. It's a fraction of the story without so much as an acknowledgement of the gap. I suspect a lot of effort was put forth to assemble this film, so it's a pity they missed the mark by this far.