The Great Acid Fiasco [Part One] (8.6.12)

Prompt: One of your characters has secretly done something morally reprehensible, illegal, or just plain awful. Make the audience side with him/her anyway. 

This one really inspired me because I love writing about outlaws and the underdogs of society. They're just more interesting to me. I have a lot of ideas about stories like these, but this one article I read on Reddit.com about one of the world's largest acid dealer, William Leonard Pickard stuck out to me (you can read the story here). Long story short he was a genius at making LSD and decided to become partners with this weed dealer named Gordon Skinner who screwed him over big time and now Pickard is in jail for life. I couldn't help but feel so much sympathy for Pickard--all he wanted to do was making a living by selling acid and he got thrown under a bus and is behind bars for a non violent crime. Just for selling drugs he is automatically in the same place where people who torture animals, children, as well as rapists and murderers go. Ridiculous and a huge flaw in our legal system might I add. Anyway, I couldn't finish the whole thing in one day (much like "Dear Kathy") and I made it sort of a docu-play (if there is such a thing) and mimicked the style of The Laramie Project with its use of "moments" instead of scenes. Anyway I have to go to bed because I start my new job tomorrow(!!!) but look forward to more installments of this. I take pride in that I don't think there's ever been a play written about this case before, so enjoy. 

#6: THE GREAT ACID FIASCO

(PART ONE)

Based on the case Pickard Vs. Skinner

Written

by

Sean Pollock

MOMENT: “SASHA”

(Lights up on SASHA—an older gentleman in his later 70’s. While he appears to have a jovial and grandfather and simple-minded appearance, this man is single-handedly is a genius and major connoisseur and entrepreneur of the drug world, as we know it. As the lights slowly rise, he begins to speak)

SASHA: Sometimes it’s truly amazing to just sit back and realize that just by the power of one man’s mind and the magic of one man’s hands that one man can create a whole web of mind-altering experiences, freak-outs and epiphanies to thousands of people all across the United States. The man who I am speaking of, is William Pickard. William Pickard was a brilliant man. William did what many men have done: make LSD. Like many other men who have made LSD—or acid, he got caught for it. That part is not special—but what is special is that he was one of best people to have ever done it. Willy was a brilliant man, brilliant and yet stupid, because he got caught. I had the pleasure of working with Willy well before he got caught doing what he did.

My wife, Ann and I had been researching and conducting experiments with phenethylamines, MDMA and other Schedule I drugs and hallucinogens at San Francisco University well before we met William. However, he was one of the first to pioneer not only acid but MDMA as well which is what really made us click was my interest in the research and his existing knowledge of it. I digress though—what’s important is the acid he made. The acid that’s on the streets today is not nearly as intense as the stuff that was on the streets in the 70’s and 80’s when we were manufacturing it and maybe that’s for the better. His stuff was powerful, I mean really powerful. When William’s lab got busted, he told one of the agents not to even bother tampering with the stuff in the lab because it was so dangerous. The agent didn’t listen and ended up going into convulsions he was tripping so hard.

I still believe to this day that he could’ve gotten away with it. What didn’t help William was that even before all this he was irresponsible. He had been caught forging checks, stealing a car and making MDMA even before he was caught with all that acid. But what did him in was getting involved with Gordon Skinner.

MOMENT: “A NEW FRIEND”

(Lights rise on William’s lab. It is a dumpy hot trailer in Mountain View, California, boiling with chemicals. However, the only item on the stage is a table with a million test tubes and other scientific instruments. As the lights rise, WILLIAM and GORDON are already in mid conversation)

GORDON: So this is it? This is where the magic happens.

WILLIAM: The nuts and bolts are still being worked out, but yes, this is where the magic happens.

GORDON: And this acid—

WILLIAM: No using the A word in here.

GORDON: Sorry…this…

WILLIAM: “Love”.

GORDON: This “love”—how long does it take to make?

WILLIAM: A few days. The chemistry is pretty advanced but I’ve gotten it down pretty well. As I said I’m still mixing around with a few different things but—

GORDON: Now, whose been testing this stuff?

WILLIAM: A few friends but mostly I’ve been testing it myself.

GORDON: How long does it last?

WILLIAM: Usually over 24 hours if you take more than two tabs.

GORDON: Holy crap.

WILLIAM: Yeah, pretty powerful.

(Gordon thinks)

GORDON: I want in.

WILLIAM: What?

GORDON: If it’s really as powerful as you say I want in.

WILLIAM: You want to buy some?

GORDON: No. I want to become partners and I want to make this stuff with you.

WILLIAM: You haven’t even tried it yet.

GORDON: I will—just give it time. But if this works, I want you to know I want to go into business and do this with you.

WILLIAM: And why should I trust you?

GORDON: Because I’ve done this before. I already sell pot and have a huge cliental base. I’m already making a lot of money and connections doing that. And this…this could be ground breaking if it works.

WILLIAM: Well…let’s cut the crap and have you try some, and then we could take it from there.

GORDON: Alright, lay one on me.

(William gives Gordon a tab, and William takes a tab too)

WILLIAM: Don’t take it yet. I like to pray before I take one.

GORDON: To who? To God?

WILLIAM: To who ever is listening. (he does) To Mother Earth, the sun and the moon, the ground and the sky—protect us. For where our minds will wander no man has gone before. If for any reason we doubt ourselves or come to a crisis, rescue us and save us from ourselves.

(They take the tabs)

GORDON: I don’t feel it yet.

WILLIAM: You will. Get ready for a wild ride, buddy.

(A flash of green light and the loud bang of a drum. Gordon swiftly looks over. Then another flash, and two bangs. A flash of yellow light and the sound of a flute. William looks over. Then a flash of pink light and the flute and the drum coming together. Soon, a cornucopia of colors flood the stage with different instruments all joining in at once. Suddenly the song “So Happy Together” by the Turtles blast. Gordon begins to laugh. Then William begins to laugh because Gordon is laughing. On the lyrics “I can’t see me lovin nobody but you for all my life/When you’re with me the skies will be blue for all my life” the colors flash brighter and the two of them laugh to the point of tears. The lights fade as the two have their minds blown by an incredibly daunting, frightening, joyous and harmonious journey they will ever embark upon…)

MOMENT: “JOHN WORTHY”

(Lights up on JOHN WORTHY in a prison jumpsuit. He is a tough looking man, his face haunted by experience and pain)

JOHN: Gordon Skinner is a slimey-ass motherfucker. Anyone whose ever dealt with him will tell you that. I feel bad for that guy…William Pickard, because he seemed to have been fucked the worst out of all of us… (beat) You see, I was in prison in ’89 with Skinner because Skinner had been busted with 42 pounds of pot in New Jersey and his bail was posted at a million dollars bail. If anyone had a million dollars to spend—they sure as hell weren’t gonna spend it on Skinner because Skinner was a nobody. But I didn’t know that at the time. When I met him when we were locked up we became chummy, yknow? And I was on paroll—I was about to get the fuck out of there when I was in prison. I gave him my number and told him to gimme a call when he got out of prison. Dumbest move I ever made. He struck a deal with the parole board when it was his time and told them that I was still gonna be on the streets sellin and doing drugs and that I was up to no good. So the DEA worked with him and he made a phone call to me telling me he had been released and he had some dank dope and was down to push it to me and told me it was so dank that I could push it for others and make more than enough money. He told me it would cost $34,000 and to meet him at the Vineland Motel and he’d get it to me. He told me that he’d let me try it and if it sucked then there was no pressure but he had so much of it and wanted to push it to me. So I did it. Stupid. I got busted there in the parking lot and put back in the slammer. And Skinner got off, hands wiped clean, just like with Pickard.

MOMENT: “MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND”

(Lights rise on William and Gordon at William’s lab—continued from the first scene)

GORDON: You weren’t kidding. That was really strong.

WILLIAM: I’ve done a lot of research on the stuff and have been trying to perfect it for a long time.

GORDON: Where did you do your studying?

WILLIAM: San Francisco University, Harvard…and I studied in Russia for a while too. The drug laws in Russia are surprisingly easy to get around.

GORDON: I see. (beat) I mean I can’t deny it, it’s really good stuff—and you’re a smart enough guy, but I think you’re missing one key thing.

WILLIAM: What?

GORDON: Money. Whose financing this stuff? I mean all the chemicals and the equipment—this stuff could be huge. You need someone who could really push this stuff for you. And I can do it.

WILLIAM: …How?

GORDON: Let’s thing I know a thing or two about numbers. Listen, your game is chemistry. My game is math. How much is one tab of love, typically?

WILLIAM: I charge ten dollars for a tab.

GORDON: How much does it cost to make? Including all the equipment?

WILLIAM: Roughly $1,000.

GORDON: And how much is in one sheet?

WILLIAM: Twenty-five.

GORDON: So that means you would need to sell at least forty sheets of acid to break even.

(William does the calculations in his head)

WILLIAM: Right.

GORDON: Let’s just say we get a whole set of a thousand dollar’s worth of equipment and double the amount. If I pay for half of that equipment, I get half of that profit that you make. All we have to do is find some more people to push the stuff you’re currently making in order to get that profit to get a second set of equipment. You see where I’m going with this?

WILLIAM: Uh-huh—

GORDON: —I know people. I mean, I know people. I don’t mean to name drop but I’m going to because I want you to understand how I can make this work: Warren Buffet. He’s an investor and he’s founded a lot of drug research. I tell him this is a research thing—he invests money to me for the equipment. I’ll talk up numbers, I’ll say that this equipment costs closer to $3,000 dollars. I take $500 of that and give it to you for the new lab equipment. You pay the other $500. We take the rest of the money, take the equipment we already have along with the new equipment, get a bigger lab, and really push this stuff. What you have here is already great. Once people start getting ahold of it they’ll want more. But when they want more, we’re gonna have to get bigger, and it costs money to make money.

WILLIAM: I’m all for making money off of this, I really am…but I don’t know if I can do bigger.

(A silence)

WILLIAM: Not without help. I can’t just…keep myself busy in a lab all day making… “love”. It’s just not who I am.

(A silence)

GORDON: Do you mind if I ask you something personal?

WILLIAM: What?

GORDON: Are you in debt, at all? I mean do you owe anyone money?

(No response)

GORDON: Because if you do, this is the way to clear any of those debts. I know Harvard’s a real pricey school and I know you’ve been all over the place—surely you’ve got to owe someone a favor by now.

WILLIAM: It’s true. I am in debt right now.

GORDON: This is your way out, and I can help you, I swear.

WILLIAM: I just…I don’t know how I feel about a lab. Ok? I don’t know if I can rightfully just go ahead and just operate somewhere…it just seems sketchy, I mean where were you thinking?

GORDON: My family owns a missile base in Kansas. We can operate out of there.

(A silence)

GORDON: Think about it, William. Think of the money we could make.

(A few beats, and then…)

WILLIAM: I can’t join you. I can make it here and ship some to you, but I can’t just relocate to Kansas on a whim and make love all day. I’m sorry.

(Another silence)

GORDON: Fine. Suit yourself. Expect a call from me in a few weeks for a shipment.

WILLIAM: I can do that.

GORDON: Good.

(Gordon exits, fuming)