Jim Belushi Goes to Colombia, Ruminates About His Brother John's Death

Smokin’: John and Jim Belushi

Jim Belushi is obsessed with his brother John's death. He's repeatedly said John would be alive today if he didn't shoot drugs and smoked pot instead. 

John Belushi died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine, known as a speedball, on March 5, 1982.

In the latest episode of Growing Belushi, Jim Belushi's reality-TV show on Discovery (Wednesdays, 10 pm ET), the actor-turned-cannabis-grower travels to Colombia in search of rare seeds like Sata Marta Gold.

The backstory is Belushi wants to start a Blues Brothers cannabis brand and needs approval from Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's wife, Judy. Aykroyd and John Belushi took a Saturday Night Live skit and turned the Blues Brothers into an actual band that led to concert tours and two popular movies. After his death, Belushi was replaced in the Blues Brothers by John Goodman and his brother, Jim. Aykroyd and Belushi perform at a benefit concert in Idaho during the episode, which features Aykroyd, who sends him on a "mission from God" to Colombia.

While there, Belushi repeats his mantra:

"Here's a medicine [cannabis] that if John had taken it we all know he'd be alive today."

In a helicopter flying over coca fields, Belushi has this ephiphany:

"If they could turn those fields into cannabis fields those families can make their money farming and they could make a plant that could heal people spiritually, physically and emotionally and all the cocaine could disappear from those hillsides and beautiful plants can grow."

It's a nice thought, but Belushi seems to be forgetting that the coca plant is natural like cannabis and is grown and chewed in South America for energy and pain. It has been turned into cocaine because of the demand in the U.S. and around the world.

He also appears to think his brother never smoked pot. John preferred adulterated drugs like heroin and cocaine and paid for it with his life. 

RELATED: John Belushi: Samurai Blues Brother

Belushi's preoccupied with Pablo Escobar. He mentions the deceased ruthless Medellín cartel jefe numerous times. While admitting he was a "bad guy," Belushi interviews a woman who received a house from Escobar. 

To add to the overall irony of the episode, Cathy Smith, who injected John at Chateau Marmont in 1982 and went to jail for involuntary manslaughter in 1984, died on August 18. She was 73. Belushi would've been 71.

Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom

Publisher of CelebStoner.com, former editor of High Times and Freedom Leaf and co-author of Pot Culture and Reefer Movie Madness.