In the 1970s the epicentre of a vast LSD-producing operation was busted right here in Wales. In rural Ceredigion, in fact, from where they shipped acid the world over. Operation Julie was one of the world's biggest drug busts and now, Twin Town, House of Dragon and liquid gold-voiced Rhys Ifans is narrating a brand new podcast about the event, which you could call the 'real life Breaking Bad.'
The six-part BBC Sounds podcast, Acid Dream: The Great LSD Plot uncovers the gripping story behind Operation Julie and also features original music from Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys - reuniting the two Welsh icons after Ifans, who was the original singer of SFA, and then reunited with them for the Show Me Magic music video. The podcast takes listeners back to the 1970s to tell the tale of a brilliant chemist turned drug lord, an international LSD ring based in rural Wales, and a top secret police operation.
Read more about Operation Julie, here.
In the 1970s, it’s estimated that 60% of the world’s LSD came from one place – Wales. Acid Dream is the story of the Microdot Gang, a rag-tag group of chemists, dealers, businessmen and hippy dreamers who attempted to start a revolution of the mind from a Welsh farmhouse in Tregaron. Operation Julie investigated two separate but overlapping drugs networks in Wales, but they both led directly back to Timothy Leary - the American psychologist often referred to as "LSD’s arch-druid" - via a Californian man called David Solomon. Biochemist Richard Kemp was also involved and he was a passionate believer in the power of LSD to expand human consciousness and change the world - and he had stumbled upon a method of creating the purest LSD the world had ever seen. Kemp, who was also an associate of Solomon, and his GP girlfriend moved to Tregaron in 1973 where the biochemist made LSD on a huge scale.
The police, from all across the UK, had to go undercover and immerse themselves in the Ceredigion hippy culture. Rhys Ifans said of the story: “Our Welsh slate was laid on the roofs of the world, our coal burnt brightly on its hearths and our LSD, it seems, kicked open the doors of perception.”
Radio Wales’ Commissioner, Jeremy Grange said, “True stories are often more bizarre than fiction and Acid Dream presents a compelling example. The series is brilliantly written and soundscaped and we’re delighted that two great Welsh cultural icons, Rhys Ifans and Gruff Rhys, are involved in creating this imaginative and entertaining account of the story behind Operation Julie.”
Acid Dream: The Great LSD Plot, episode one is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds with a new episode released every Wednesday.
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