Are Your Kids Talking About John Belushi or Speedball?

John Belushi was considered to be one of the most popular and talented comedians in American show business. His popularity during the mid-1970s to the early 1980s was purely because of his talent and his generosity towards other artists. John Belushi was an alumnus of the long-running show Saturday Night Live and, with Dan Aykroyd, was a founder of The Blues Brothers band.

But for all his talent as a comedian and as an actor, John Belushi found immortality in the minds of today’s youth not through his work on television and in the movies, but in the manner of his death. John Belushi was the epitome of the fast life in Hollywood, and he died from an overdose of speedball.

What Is Speedball?

Speedball is a combination of cocaine and heroin, taken intravenously with the two drugs mixed in the same syringe. It is worth noting that speedball is a deadly cocktail. Cocaine, being the stimulant drug that it is, increases heartbeat and is more volatile than heroin. Heroin, on the other hand, is a depressant; it works by slowing the heart down. But cocaine fizzes out more quickly than heroin and when heroin takes over, a delayed drug overdose is highly possible.

Speedball and the John Belushi Connection

On the morning of March 5, 1982, John Belushi was found dead inside his room at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. The cause of death was disputed, but later reports ruled that the actor died because of drug overdose.

The culprit was speedball. John Belushi had been addicted to cocaine, according to friends, but he was not really addicted to heroin. He had been supplied, however, by the groupie and drug supplier Cathy Smith. Smith was later convicted for involuntary manslaughter when she admitted to injecting 11 speedballs into the actor during the night of March 4, 1982.

Because of how he died, the drug slang “John Belushi” became a code for the deadly cocaine and heroin cocktail. Sometimes, the words “powerballing” or “snowballing” is substituted for speedball or the name of the actor himself. The smoked form of the cocktail is also called moonrocks.

It is a shame for a talented actor such as John Belushi to meet his end in such a manner. As a lesson from his life, you should watch out if your kids are talking about John Belushi. You may never know if they are discussing the actor’s work or are talking code for heroin and cocaine.