Drugs are bad. That’s what I was told as a youngster. Thanks to a Berenstain Bears book, and a speech at school by somebody featuring slideshow visuals of his overdose that made me sick to my stomach. Even though I barely stayed around for that talk, I grew up to be more drug-free than the fentanyl addicts who occasionally come around my residence either moaning from withdrawal or picking fights with street signs or cars. However, thanks to my autism, and people who don’t understand, there are a large majority of people with an IQ of -8 who think I am a drug addict. I guess some people just can’t tell an LD from LSD. But some drugs are good. The medicinal type. Unless you’re me, medical marijuana actually makes my anxiety attacks worse, I either learned that the hard or easy way, I don’t know because I was hovering nervously and couldn’t even tell what my own arm’s length was. Let’s get into some other drug: Ecstasy. Ever since some friends made a PSA-style short film about what causes brain damage, I was convinced to stay away from the stuff and have never tried it. But a priest has done so. What?! But aren’t drugs a no-no according to Christianity? Perhaps we should dwell on this matter a little more in this doc.
So this is the story of Michael Clegg. His Irish Catholic mother dragged him to church every morning of every day and he wanted to learn more about God. He got into studying religion and making his way to be a priest until he decided to leave the church and moved to Hollywood where he started a business in selling a special device connected to a phone incase of a robbery. His business got bought by a big corporation and Sergey moved on getting himself a lovely cabin near a lake. He did other great activities like merging yoga with tennis, went scuba diving with a lady who used to be a student, and then tried a drug from his friend named Fred. Somehow he felt amazing from the high he got it, and he was finally at peace better than ever.
There’s also the story of an advocate Jew named Rick who was raised on the scary stories of the holocaust and he felt he was given a mission to find a way to reply to all the hostility. Rick attended a college with no grades and parties all night. He took some LSD and started to feel a better understanding of psychedelics. A woman named Debby was also experimenting with drugs at SLN and she met Rick there which lead to an incredible friendship. Rick took some MDMA offered by Debbie and discovered how fantastic it was with his girlfriend. The MDMA was started by a man named Sasha who was considered the godfather due to how he made it and distributed it. Michael eventually found out about a speech hosted by Sasha and decided to learn how it was made. Michael made it his plan to have it made and he got the assistance of a chemist named Carina who went into the process of making the drug which would later be known as ecstacy. When Carina successfully made it, she found it an interesting new substance and Michael took it and found it good. Rick took some as well and enjoyed it too. More people got into it and it got sold, and we learn of some more stores, like a drug seller named Bob, who tried it and found it better than cocaine. He was listening to an album called Ecstasy with Michael at the time, and so they decided that’s what this MDMA tablet should be called. They got some great sales made and Michael made more money than he could imagine, when suddenly drugs were starting to be labeled as dangerous and soon the government was trying to criminalize it. Michael didn’t care though, and wanted everyone to experience it even putting it out there no matter what the laws. Rick and Debby took an opportunity to medicalize MDMA and make sure it was protected from being illegal. But as the business grew bigger, Michael continued to get crazy with his money. Once MDMA ended up getting criminalized, he got upset, but moved his operation elsewhere outside of USA all the way to Mexico. Carina even tried the new content herself and had a better experience than ever thanks to new supplies and materials. Even with FDA rejecting their content, Michael and his associates never gave up, even taking their business to Spain. Despite Michael making lots of money and enjoying life, he had troubles with legal issues, problems with a chemist who married someone named Walter who had a corrupt attitude, and finding another location to set up.
Of course, a lot of businesses are fueled by a man’s mind of you wanting more which is a low level of consciousness. This documentary opened up my mind better than any drug would, as it told me a lot of interesting facts and crazy things that happened through this whole drug craze. Michael himself got exhausted of being rich and just wanted to get out of everything eventually. Well, he did. And before that, some people were mixing ecstasy with speed and getting some serious health issues eventually leading to overdoses. This documentary certainly shed a lot of light on certain matters, and I also liked how they retold how it went in the past with young actors, it looked like a lot of money went into the sets and props to make it look like that long ago. The interviews themselves were also genuine and told a lot. It goes to show drugs aren’t all that bad if taken carefully. While I’m not exactly a convert myself after this, I have a slightly different perspective on them now.
Prophet of Ecstasy will be screening on the 28th at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema 6:30PM if anyone in Toronto is interested in watching.