EXCLUSIVE: Jim Belushi is envious of blowing a trail with his latest role – that of cannabis owner.
The 66-year-old actor and cabaret artist is starring in a new reality TV series on Discovery titled ‘Growing Belushi’, which chronicles the star’s lifestyle when he co-owns a 93-acre farm in Oregon manages his family.
Some of Belushi’s brands include Captain Jack’s Gulzar Afghanica, known in the ’70s as “the smell of SNL,” such as Black Diamond and Cherry Pie, which he describes as “the wedding advisor.”
“I just thought this was something no one had seen,” Belushi told Fox News about what forced him to allow cameras around him, his family and staff around him.
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“I think there are people who are very afraid of cannabis and its attributes and I thought, ‘Do you know what? If everyone just watches it grow, sees the people involved, who really care … the tests that are going on, the safety involved, then they can feel a little more relaxed about trying cannabis . ”
Belushi shared that he is a strong believer in the medicinal benefits that marijuana can provide to those looking for alternatives to help them deal with various health ailments, including anxiety, sleeplessness, and Alzheimer’s.
“It’s not violent,” he explained. ‘It also leads to a higher awareness, which leads to compassion and empathy for others. I mean, that’s all part of the wellness of cannabis. I learned all that. We show it on ‘Growing Belushi.’ It’s really cool. And the show is very funny because I’m an idiot. You look at my education in farming and cannabis and some funny things. ”
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Belushi’s passion for his farm is driven in part by a personal tragedy.
His brother, John Belushi, died in 1982 at the age of 33 from a drug overdose.
Jim Belushi believed the “Saturday Night Live” star was probably self-medicating to deal with head injuries he had suffered early in his life.
“My brother, I think, has suffered from CTE,” Belushi explained. ‘He was a middle linebacker, captain of the team, all-state and all-conference. And he clapped his head for four years. He got the most approaches in our high school and he got his clock a lot. Over there [were] many concussions. And then they said, ‘What’s the matter? Did you run your clock? Come back to Belushi. ‘
“Senior year he settled in our house, and we did not know what it was,” Belushi recalled.
Belushi previously told the Alchemy podcast that despite spinal taps and x-rays, doctors could not determine the cause of his brother’s seizure. According to Belushi, it was in college that “cannabis was medicine for him.” But at the moment, marijuana was not recognized as a legal treatment option.
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Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi performed with The Blues Brothers at the Palladium in New York City on June 1, 1980.
(Ebet Roberts / Getty Images)
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“It was all considered one drug,” he remarked.
“But I believe what Dan Aykroyd says, ‘If John were a pothead, he would live today,'” Belushi continued. ‘And we think medicine could have really helped him with that CTE, that suffering. That’s one of my goals. ”
Belushi’s Farm hosts the “Blues Brothers” brand of cannabis products, which pays homage to the 1980 film starring John and Aykroyd, 68.
“It has the music, it has the fun, the misery and it has the mission of God, that is the healing,” Belushi said. That ‘Blues Brothers’ is perfect for cannabis, and that’s part of what ‘Growing Belushi’ is all about – achieving the ‘Blues Brothers’ rights. It’s fun with Dan Aykroyd in it … We’ve had a lot of fun. ”
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Belushi thinks he’s something.
He described how he visited a dispensary in Western Oregon, where he met a veteran who made him think he was worth his unlikely path to farming.
“He looked at me,” Belushi recalled. I said, ‘Are you okay? ‘Then he just looked up, stared at me. And he said, ‘I was in Iraq. I was a medicine, and I saw things happening in the human body that no one would ever have to witness. ‘And he said,’ I have PTSD. They say I have triple PTSD, and they gave me a bottle … Oxycotin … to help me. I got away from it and I have trouble talking and sleeping with my wife and kids. ‘”
“And he said, ‘Your black diamond is the only thing that relaxes me enough to take the fright in my heart and talk to my family and sleep,’ ‘Belushi continued.’ He nodded to me with tears, and I said, “I did not do this.” He goes, “No, but you are the steward.” That was the point where it all changed for me.There are so many people who suffer there.Trauma… number one fear in life is death.The number two fear in life – collapse of family.And families collocate from alcoholism, from divorce, from someone dying in their family.Like my family – it totally collapsed my family.
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“We all have trauma that is … inside crying … All I said is from my experience with veterans in particular is that cannabis is safe, clean and peaceful … That veteran has changed my life.”
‘Growing Belushi’ premieres Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. on Discovery.
