Brotherhood of Eternal Love
| Founded by | John Griggs |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Orange County, California |
| Criminal activities | Drug use, manufacturing and distribution |
The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was an organization of drug users and distributors that operated from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s in Orange County, California; they were dubbed the Hippie Mafia.[1] They produced and distributed drugs in hopes of starting a "psychedelic revolution" in the United States.[2]
The organization was started by John Griggs as a commune but by 1969 had turned to the manufacture of LSD and the importing of hashish.
In 1970 The Brotherhood of Eternal Love hired the radical left organization Weather Underground for a fee of $25,000 to help Timothy Leary make his way to Algeria after he escaped from prison, while serving a 5-year sentence for possession of marijuana.[3][4]
Their activities came to an end on August 5, 1972, when in a drug raid dozens of group members in California, Oregon and Maui were arrested, though all of them were released within months; some who had escaped the raid continued underground or fled abroad.[2] More members were arrested in 1994 and 1996, and the last of them in 2009;[1] he served two months in jail after pleading guilty to a single charge of smuggling hashish.[5] A documentary directed by William Kirkley called Orange Sunshine (named for the LSD they produced) on the organization is now available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon Video,[6][2] and in 2010 Nicholas Schou published a book on the brotherhood.[7]
References
- 1 2 Schou, Nick (Nov 12, 2009). ""Hippie Mafia" Hash Smuggler Arrested". Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- 1 2 3 Schou, Nick (7 June 2007). "Eternal Sunshine". OC Weekly. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
- ↑ Brian Flanagan (2002). The Weather Underground (mp4). The Free History Project. Event occurs at 0:59:00. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Rudd, Mark (2009). Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen. New York City: William Morrow and Company. pp. 225–7. ISBN 978-0061472756.
- ↑ Schou, Nick (Dec 3, 2009). "Case Closed on "Hippie Mafia" Smugglers". Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- ↑ IMDB article http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5119260/
- ↑ Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World, Nicholas Schou (Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2010), ISBN 9780312551834.
External links
- Lords of Acid: How the Brotherhood of Eternal Love Became OCs Hippie Mafia Nick Schou, OC Weekly, Jul 7 2005.