The Case of the Frozen
Addict
On 16 July 1982 something strange happened to one of the prisoners in San Jose jail. George Carillo , a 42-year-old drug addict, awoke to find that he could not move or talk. Frozen like a pillar of salt, he was transferred from his cell to the nearby Valley
Medical Center. Doctors there were totally bewildered.
The key to this mystery was not to be found in any medical text book, but would lead instead to the underground 'designer drug' world of California.
Ironically, from that seedy world has come a major medical breakthrough, bringing hope to millions of sufferers of the devastating brain condition, Parkinson's disease.
Narrator Paul Vaughan
Written and produced for WGBH BOSTON by JON PALFREMAN
Film editor ANDREA WILLIAMS
Horizon editor ROBIN BRIGHTWELL