The year is 1937.  As the play opens, THE LECTURER, an authority figure, informs the audience of the new drug menace “Marihuana” which threatens the American way of life with “REEFER MADNESS.”  The Lecturer explains that this traveling troupe of actors operates under the auspices of the WPA Federal Theatre Project and is under the careful supervision of Harry J. Anslinger, head of the newly-formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The Lecturer is here to present a dramatic reenactment of an actual case from Mr. Anslinger’s files, a true story which happened in a town very much like this one.

Enter JIMMY HARPER and MARY LANE, a lovable pair of wholesome teens who dream of the future while studying “ROMEO & JULIET” for school.  Their happiness will prove short-lived. The Lecturer introduces us to the seamy side of life at The Reefer Den, populated by drug-addled denizens of the night.  He dons a fedora and assumes the persona of JACK STONE, a local hood who sells weed to unsuspecting kids.  He bullies his girlfriend MAE COLEMAN who actually owns this house.  She’d leave him, but Jack keeps her supplied with the marihuana she craves. She dimly remembers something suspicious about her parents’ tragic death in a car accident, but her memory has been addled by “THE STUFF.”

Wholesome kids dance to the risqué rhythms of swing-jazz music.  “DOWN AT THE OL’ FIVE AND DIME” Jack arrives, trolling for youthful victims and meets Jimmy who is nervous about his poor dance skills.

Jack charms Jimmy, promising to teach him how to dance like Fred Astaire. He invites Jimmy to the Reefer Den to experience “a real party.”

Back at the Reefer Den, the joint is jumping courtesy of two of the regulars: One is RALPH WILEY, a ruined ex-college student prone to cackling, maniacal bouts of laughter. He’s smoking weed and playing piano “FASTER! FASTER!” with SALLY DEBAIN, a reefer slut who supports her drug habit by helping Jack seduce the innocent. Jack arrives with an oblivious Jimmy in tow, and instructs Sally to “give him the usual.”

Sally offers a smoke to the new arrival, ensuring that “JIMMY TAKES A HIT.” Time shifts and blurs as Jimmy experiences sensual abandon in “THE ORGY” hosted by Moloch the GOAT-MAN, a bare-chested satyr played by The Lecturer.

Over the next few weeks, Jimmy makes a terrifying transition from “good egg” to “bad apple” -- he attempts to tongue kiss a shocked Mary, sending her running off in tears.  Alone in church, seated in a “LONELY PEW,” Mary prays that her sweetheart will regain his senses and return to her.

In an effort to procure weed money, Ralph and Jimmy break into church and rob a poor box. In another reefer-induced hallucination, Jimmy receives a sacred vision in which Jesus Christ appears  (played by The Lecturer),  flanked by a host of angels, to issue a stern warning to “LISTEN TO JESUS, JIMMY” and renounce marihuana! Jimmy scoffs at the Son of God’s message. Angels weep.

Back at the Reefer Den, Jimmy is completely out of control.  A desperate Mae warns Jimmy to avoid the same mistakes she made – he must escape The Reefer Den while he is still able.  The drug-addled Jimmy, however, won’t listen.

Jimmy’s bad behavior culminates with him stealing Mary’s Packard and taking it for a reckless, Reefer-Induced Joy Ride with Sally!  The joy, however, is cut short when Jimmy runs over a helpless old man, killing him.  Sally, fearing arrest, absconds. The remorseful Jimmy stays behind to mourn the Dead Old Man, torn between two powerful loves: “MARY JANE/MARY LANE”.

Now shocked out of his Reefer Haze, Jimmy vows to replace the high of illegal drugs with the high of true love. He returns the stolen Packard to Mary’s house and apologizes to her.  Before Jimmy can give Mary his school ring as a token of undying love, a siren sounds in the distance.  The fugitive Jimmy realizes that he must get far away from Mary lest he bring her down with him.  He runs off into the night with no explanation.

Jack catches up to Jimmy and tricks him by offering him a seemingly innocent brownie.  Jimmy thinks this is the best brownie he’s ever eaten in his life and shares a tap-dance duet with a hallucinatory treat in “THE BROWNIE SONG.”

Mae discovers that Sally has sold her baby for Drug Money.  SALLY’S BABY (played by Ralph) appears and reveals his gruesome fate in a plaintive “LULLABYE.”

Mary arrives at the Reefer Den looking for Jimmy, only to find the lecherous Ralph lying in wait. Ralph tries to seduce Mary by tricking her into smoking – “LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE.” The plan backfires -- the power of the Evil Weed is so immense, it immediately transforms the virginal Mary into a whip-cracking reefer dominatrix who promptly enslaves the frightened Ralph to herself and a phalanx of terrifying bondage bunnies.

Upon discovering Mary and Ralph in a compromising position, a smoke-addled Jimmy attacks Ralph.  A scuffle ensues.  Jimmy is knocked unconscious and Jack accidentally shoots Mary through the heart.  Jack places the gun in the unconscious Jimmy’s hand.  Jimmy, is convinced that he has murdered his beloved “Juliet.”  Mary regains consciousness long enough for Jimmy to finally give her his school ring.  She dies in his arms as they sing “ROMEO & JULIET (reprise)”.

A police car pulls up outside the house, drawn by the sound of gunfire. As Jack plots his next move, Mae reveals to Jimmy that he didn’t kill Mary -- Jack did the deed, and he’s planning to frame Jimmy!  A cop bursts in.  True to form, Jack accuses Jimmy of murdering  Mary while “hopped-up.”  Jimmy begs Mae to tell the truth and exonerate him.  Mae, however, is too weak… and too dependent on the stuff Jack gives her.  She remains silent and Jimmy is dragged away to stand trial.

Some time later, Ralph, Mae and Sally are wracked with guilt as they listen to a radio broadcast announcing Jimmy Harper’s conviction and death sentence. Ralph, who has been smoking weed non-stop, has become seriously unhinged, guilty of “MURDER!” He sees hallucinatory visions:  The ghost of Doomed Jimmy, Dead Mary in Hell, and the ghosts of all the kids who have been destroyed by Reefer.  All the while, Ralph, stricken with a severe case of the munchies, moans about starving to death.  Fearing that Ralph’s insane caterwauling will prompt a neighbor to call the cops, Jack and Mae leave to get Ralph something to eat.  Sally is instructed to remain behind and keep Ralph quiet.  When Jack and Mae return with sandwiches, they discover that Ralph gnawing on Sally’s disembodied arm – he has eaten Sally alive!  Ralph, now a cackling Reefer-Rueled Cannibal Zombie, turns on Mae and Jack. Jack shoots Ralph who dies laughing. The shock of all this causes Mae’s lost memories of her parents to snap back into focus – she now recalls that Jack deliberately killed them by sabotaging their car! Jack warns Mae that the world is kill or be killed – “the winner is the last one left alive.”

Jack tries to bring Mae back to her senses in his usual fashion – by giving her a smoke.  Mae stubs it out and picks up a hoe from the victory garden, cold fury in her eyes. Frightened by Mae’s intensity, Jack tries to shoot her.  Unfortunately for Jack, he expended all his bullets on Mary and Ralph.  Mae sings “THE STUFF (reprise)” as she eviscerates Jack with a garden hoe, avenging the deaths of Sally, Ralph, Mary and every other poor kid Jack has ever hooked on marihuana. The scene ends in dark triumph as Mae hoists Jack’s beating heart into the air, doused in his blood.

Meanwhile, on Death Row, Jimmy has a bad reaction to a piece of staging and causes the play to briefly pause and the house lights to come up. We are reminded that these characters are all being played by impoverished WPA actors who depend on this job to earn a meager living in depression-era America. The actor playing Jimmy attempts a rebellion against the Lecturer and his lies, but his fellow actors turn on him and “Jimmy” reluctantly resumes the story where it left off.

Now Jimmy walks the last mile and is strapped into the electric chair.  At the very last moment, the execution is interrupted by Mae!  She has obtained a Presidential Pardon from none other than PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (played by The Lecturer).  After an unbelievably cheap “Annie” joke, President Roosevelt charges Jimmy with a sacred trust – going forth into the American Heartland to “TELL ‘EM THE TRUTH” about the dangers of The Green Misery.  FDR promises Jimmy plenty of “help” getting the message out.  The government will use the power of radio, the fine papers of William Randolph Hearst and stirring iconography such as Uncle Sam, George Washington and The Statue of Liberty.  Patriotic Icons enter and join the group in a rousing production number.  The power of Jimmy’s conversion to the cause of Truth is sufficient to release Mary from the gaping maw of hell!  The Lecturer’s presentation ends in a big patriotic finish. Happy ending! Or is it…?