Episode One illuminates how marijuana and LSD helped a new generation to open the doors of perception, and how drugs became the tool for challenging mainstream, conservative American values.
The use of drugs to induce religious experiences gives way to an urge to simply get wasted in the 1970s. As a result, President Nixon declares war on drugs.
The crack epidemic of the '80s; the drug rehab industry emerges; ecstasy becomes the drug of choice for the rave culture.
When Madison Avenue and Hollywood Start fueling the counterculture, drug use becomes normal. Drugs filter into established media in films like, The Trip and Easy Rider. However the utopian vision of the 1960s seemed to crumble when a string of events take place. The Manson murders and the deaths of, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix-make the dark side of drug use painfully clear.