Brotherhood of Eternal Love

At Outliers, we believe it is important to consider the history of our industry and recognize those individuals and groups who paved the way toward this credible treatment path. From the 1960's to the late 70's the Brotherhood of Eternal Love operated in Orange County California. Also known as the Hippie Mafia, they used, acquired and sold drugs. John Griggs originally started the group as a commune and by 1969 it had evolved into a group that made LSD and imported hashish.(Source)

The founders of the group started at the influence of Timothy Leary's book's and comments to “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” The group, first calling the members “the disciples” and organizing a non-profit religious group that believed that LSD\acid could be useful as a treatment for other addictions and there violent behavior and put them in an utopia state. (Source) They eventually set up a headshop in downtown Laguna beach 670 S. Pacific Coast Highway across from the Taco Bell that still stands their today called the Mystic Arts World. (Source)

The founders set up their “church” as a commune in a mountain town East of Orange County called Idyllwild in Modjeska Canyon. Their they wanted to tune out the world, aspire to have Timothy Leary be their leader and enjoy the exit from society. With the publicity of their organization, many people were afraid to visit in fear of incarceration. Also many members of the Brotherhood were smugglers and didn't attain for the solitude life, but instead more for the entrepreneurial aspect of the money made. (Source)

Some notable groups and people benefited from the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Howard Mark's, or Mr. Nice smuggled for the group. In the late 60's the famous blond surfer from The Endless Summer, Mike Hynson, began to smuggle hashish from India back to Southern California by storing it in hollowed out surfboards.(Source)

In 1970 many people of the hippie movement were going to the Hawaiian island of Maui, and so did the Brotherhood of Eternal love. Loaded with a 1500 Kilos of Mexican weed, the Aafje Schooner was bought, loaded and put through the Panama Canal and then made it's way to Maui. This weed was the origination of the popular cannabis strain Maui Wowie.(Source) Hollowed surfboards packed with Maui Wowie made it's way back to the mainland.

On Christmas Day in 1970, a show was organized in Laguna Beach called “Laguna Beach on Acid” had an airplane dropped thousand of advertisements with a dose of Orange Sunshine LSD. At the time they were the nation's largest narcotics network. The proceeds of sales ended up funding to help Timothy Leary who had escaped from a jail in central California to help him flee to Kabul Afghanistan. (Source)

The Brotherhood of Eternal Love started to break down on August 5^th, 1972 when raids in California, Oregon, and Maui, Afghanistan arrested 45 members. All being released a couple months later the group went underground or abroad. The last arrest was in 2009, and a book was published in 2010 by Nicholas Schou and a documentary called Orange Sunshine is out on Youtube. (Source)

In a speech by Nicholas Schou on youtube, he interviewed a member that said that his theory of that cocaine ended the brotherhood. The love and spirituality in this members opinion was ruined with the destruction of that vibe with cocaine and the desire to make money for drugs. (Source)

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Eternal_Love

http://lagunabeachmagazine.com/the-happening/

Nicholas Schou in Orange Sunshine Documentary

http://www.ocweekly.com/2005-07-07/features/lords-of-acid/

http://belhistory.weebly.com/bel-files.html

http://belhistory.weebly.com/