Recently, Bill Maher interviewed Jim Belushi on Real Time about his new show Growing Belushi, which takes a look at the Belushi family shifting to the cannabis farming business. Belushi shared his passion for cannabis farming and using cannabis in small doses for stress and sleep.
Belushi uses 2.5 mg of infused chocolate before bed to get a good’s night sleep. Maher expressed some surprise at the small amount Belushi uses, since that amount can’t get you high. Belushi pointed out that the goal isn’t to get high. Cannabis doesn’t have to be about getting high. When used in the right doses, its medicinal potential for a range of conditions is unleashed. According to Belushi,
“It’s a beautiful way to medicate anxiety, trauma, sleep and hopelessness… It makes you feel good and when you feel good you have more compassion for people.”
Not only is Belushi passionate about farming and personal use, he made it clear he wants to see changes in awareness and policy around cannabis. He referenced the 40,000 people currently in prison for cannabis-related charges, with a large over-representation of people of color. Since it’s still labeled a Federal 1 Controlled Substance, its medicinal properties are from being fully researched and understood. Not only does this affect the criminal justice system, but it affects the public’s knowledge around drug use.
This is personal for Belushi. His brother died of a drug overdose almost 40 years ago, following years of what Jim believed to be Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy from football injuries. His brother, John, seemed to benefit from cannabis use when he began using it in college, but eventually drifted into more dangerous substances. Since cannabis is federally considered to be on the same level as cocaine and heroine, his brother wouldn’t have known there is a dramatic difference between these drugs and cannabis. However, while people have died of cocaine and heroine overdoses, there is no record of someone dying from a cannabis overdose. There are serious differences in risk and side effects between cannabis and other substances in the same federal category.
Jim Belushi believes that if we had today’s knowledge about cannabis, his brother would still be alive today. Experiences like his add to the list of many reasons why we need to learn more about cannabis, and consider altering the classification of cannabis compared to other, more dangerous substances.
See the full interview between Maher and Belushi on HBO’s Real Time, and catch his new show, Growing Belushi on Discovery Channel.
Featured image from Cannabis & Tech Today