{"id":2836,"date":"2021-12-06T23:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T23:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/?p=57885"},"modified":"2021-12-06T23:00:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T23:00:54","slug":"qa-jim-belushi-wants-to-save-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=2836","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Jim Belushi Wants to Save the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

To watch Jim Belushi laugh without abandon is to see the best of America on his joyful face, an America that\u2019s unaffected by divisions or dangers at every turn: We see a deeply happy version of our next door neighbor. And it\u2019s a welcome sight to be sure.<\/p>\n

Jim Belushi is puffing on a cigar as he cruises through Southwest Oregon, taking his time on a late summer afternoon to talk fame, pain and cannabis from his inconspicuous-looking sedan. His royal blue polo shirt and black-framed glasses speak to a humility that one would think would be far-fetched from a man whose long career in the public eye has made him a household name.<\/p>\n

Appearing in dozens of films including \u201cAbout Last Night\u2026,\u201d \u201cTrading Places\u201d and \u201cRed Heat,\u201d and starring and executive producing the ratings juggernaut TV sitcom, \u201cAccording To Jim,\u201d Belushi says he\u2019s never been happier than at this very moment in his nearly seven decades on the planet. Not because of anything he\u2019s done in Hollywood, or any big business deals he\u2019s made. This Belushi 2.0 is reveling in his new passionate relationship, a profound and inspiring one, with cannabis.<\/p>\n

The plain-spoken celebrity used the plant back in the day, he says, but he\u2019s only recently been able to truly embrace it. The 93-acre Belushi\u2019s Farm<\/a> in southwest Oregon employs 15 people and will produce 1,600 pounds of flower this year. And it\u2019s all just to spread medicine to people who have waited their entire lives to replace their prescriptions. Belushi has been such a welcome presence in Oregon that the second season of his hit Discovery Channel show, \u201cGrowing Belushi<\/a>,\u201d is set to premiere at the end of the year. The Belushi good vibes just keep rolling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI measure success by the letters and the tweets that I get from people who say our cannabis has helped them,\u201d Belushi says when asked what success looks like to him now. \u201cI got my \u2018According To Jim\u2019 bucks, so as long as I break even, I\u2019m satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belushi, whose brilliant older brother John tragically died of a drug overdose at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles back in 1982, shares stories of people whose lives he\u2019s been able to impact and celebrates the importance of the many cannabis trailblazers who came before him. Some of those trailblazers are still in prison, he points out, his frustration evident. That\u2019s why Belushi supports the non-profit Last Prisoner Project, an organization that helps free people convicted of low-level marijuana crimes during the more than eight decades of cannabis prohibition.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

But, for the better part of the hour I spent with the smart, witty Chicago native, he was in the mood to communicate<\/em>. A few minutes into our convo, Belushi is amazingly comparing the soulful, feminine energy he feels from his pot plants to an oracle that speaks to Apollo and Zeus in Greek mythology. Personally, I can\u2019t get enough \u2014 his passion is undeniable, and the urgency he feels to reach more and more people who need help is palpable. Belushi, as if on cue, then reveals how he even plays his harmonica to his beloved plants, since they\u2019re clearly listening and celebrating right along with him. I believe him.<\/p>\n

But we had so much more to discuss and discover.<\/p>\n

What makes your marijuana different from the dozens and dozens of other competitors you have in Oregon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I look at it like the film industry. There are a lot of great movies out there. You go to a movie and it\u2019s great, and you and your girl want to go to another movie because you had a good experience.<\/p>\n

Good cannabis makes people want to have more good experiences, so they should try everybody\u2019s product. Ours is right up there in the Oregon market as being very, very good weed. We have great THC values, but more importantly we have tremendous terpene values<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have an excellent grower and we\u2019re growing with natural nutrients. I\u2019m flushing their irrigation out two weeks before so it\u2019s a perfect white ash. I\u2019m keeping the soil at 64 degrees so the nutrients will be absorbed into the roots. We\u2019ve got light-dep<\/a> greenhouses, so we protect the growing environment from the aphids and the mold and russet mites. And we also have that beautiful southern Oregon soil.

How does your cannabis stand out, then, like a good film would?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a very good question and it\u2019s one of those questions where I cannot give you certain things [Laughs<\/em>]. We do have some secret moves that other growers don\u2019t have and that we covet.<\/p>\n

We just went over to Advanced Nutrients<\/a>, which has been really good. And we just built two new greenhouses by Gro-Tec with really great high ceilings. We changed to Fohse LED lights<\/a>, which creates about 30 percent more penetration into the plants when we need to augment the light if it\u2019s cloudy, in order to keep the \u2018lumes up to close to 1100 (watts). It ensures there\u2019s consistency in the plant. We supplement with (Medford, Oregon-based) Rogue Soil, which is packed with great natural nutrients and gives our plants a great boost and great color.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been happier than you are at this very moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done a lot of personal work, and it really started when I bought this farm, along the Rogue River, the middle of the spiritual vortex between Mount McGlothlin and Table Rock. There was a Native American vortex of spirituality here and now we\u2019ve brought in this spiritual plant.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing, I do believe this plant has changed me. Being alongside of it, caring for it and loving it. I play my harmonica for these girls. The relationship with these plants has changed me. They\u2019ve enlightened me and made me a better person. So, I have to say, yes, I\u2019m probably in the best place that I\u2019ve ever been, and I attribute it all to, like, starting a relationship with this old beautiful feminine energy. The Oracle is a feminine creature that tells Apollo and Zeus what to do. Well, the Oracle on my farm are these plants, and let\u2019s just say we treat them like that.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s the extent of your involvement on your farm?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I collaborate with my grower, Anthony Anaya. I\u2019ve gone through three growers, and I finally found a winner with Anthony. He\u2019s like Elvis Presley! [Laughs<\/em>] He\u2019s been in the industry for 15 years in Oregon and he knows his stuff. I collaborate with him; I collaborate with Jeremy and my cousin Chris. It\u2019s like, you can\u2019t do a movie or a show by yourself. You need directors, producers, writers, prop people and cameramen.<\/p>\n

Can you describe some of the most surprising challenges you\u2019ve faced as a cannabis grower that perhaps you weren\u2019t expecting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t expecting the aphids, mites, gophers, squirrels, deer and mold. They never tell you that stuff when you put your money out and invest in this industry. Wow! We lost 300 pounds last year to mold alone. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve made recent shifts in our products. It helps us control the environment enough to eradicate pests and mold while using natural remedies. <\/p>\n

How have the wildfires in the area and record heat over the past couple summers affected your ability to grow cannabis?<\/strong><\/p>\n

They\u2019ve affected the employees, but not the plants. It gets very smoky, and we make everyone wear masks for protection. The heat during that time is at around 115\u00b0F \u2014 we keep the plants hydrated, so they can survive that just fine. During the last fire, the employees started working at six in the morning and left early before the main heat of the day.<\/p>\n

Is it really true that Dan Aykroyd\u2019s comment about your late brother John potentially being alive today had he used cannabis instead of other substances played a role in inspiring you to get involved in pot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely! Danny was a pothead, but he didn\u2019t mess with other drugs. I\u2019m not saying John didn\u2019t use cannabis, but I still think John\u2019s stuff possibly came from other things like CTE from playing football. Look, we have 33,000 veterans committing suicide a year. PTSD \u2014 what it does to these men and these women \u2014 the scarring and the traumas: I really think cannabis can help relieve some of their trauma and help them make better decisions.<\/p>\n

I once met a veteran in a dispensary parking lot. I looked at him and I said, \u201care you alright?\u201d He said \u201cNo, I was a medic in Iraq. I saw things happen to the human body that nobody should ever see.\u201d He said doctors gave him OxyContin and he just couldn\u2019t do it. But cannabis got him off OxyContin. And he tells me, \u201cYour Black Diamond OG strain allows me to talk to my wife and talk to my children and sleep.\u201d He hugged me and I said, \u201cHey man, I didn\u2019t make this.\u201d He says \u201cNo, but you\u2019re the steward.\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment became a paradigm shift in my relationship with our industry. So, yeah, I\u2019m chasing the medicine. The magic of the medicine.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Jim Belushi and Dan Ackroyd perform at a Last Prisoners Project event in Las Vegas. PHOTO Gracie Malley <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The arc of your life has been fascinating \u2014 from juvenile probation and being in trouble as a kid to having a big Hollywood career and now just narrowly escaping the area\u2019s massive wildfires. You\u2019ve been adjacent to a lot of stuff, but somehow have been able to navigate everything. Do you feel there\u2019s someone or something watching over you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m on mission from God. [Long pause<\/em>] I just listen. What do you want me to say? [Pause<\/em>] I just keep looking for the light, for something bigger than myself. Within our industry, it\u2019s medicine.<\/p>\n

Another thing that\u2019s really big for me is the Last Prisoners Project.<\/a> It\u2019s our duty in this industry to get these men and women out of jail. They were the pioneers; they were the ones that laid on the barbed wire for us to get legalization and make a living. We got to get them out of jail, and we got to hire them within our industry.<\/p>\n

What do you have in mind for expanding your cannabis footprint?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of talk going on. And right now, I\u2019m with RedBird in Oklahoma. Then with Columbia Care, and the Green Solution in Colorado. I got a Blues Brothers ice cream brand being launched and also Blues Brothers Bhang Chocolates, which are really good.<\/p>\n

I currently have four brands: The Blues Brothers brand, of which we have three or four different types of joints. It has a flip-top box so we can put it in a shirt sleeve. We call them Baby Blues, a little six-pack. We have the single gram joint, which we call Rocket 88. And then I have Chasing Magic, which is my secret stash and really the higher premium brand of what we grow.<\/p>\n

And now we just released the Captain Jack joint in Oregon. Oh, and we\u2019ve also just released Good Ugly Weed, which is really good weed.<\/p>\n

Good Ugly Weed seems to be very on-brand for you: a little scruffy, but also lovable and powerful.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may be ugly, but it\u2019s good, man! [Laughs<\/em>] We just put out some Good Ugly Weed at 24 percent THC. It\u2019s a value brand and the dispensaries are just dying for it. The profit margin on it isn\u2019t huge, but I got my comedy bucks, you know. So as long as I break even on it.<\/p>\n

How many different strains do you grow at a time and in how many dispensaries is your product currently sold?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have in our library around 20 different genetics. With our new Gro-Tech greenhouses, we can grow up to eight genetics at a time. With four cycles and four greenhouses, we have a lot of flexibility. <\/p>\n

Any plans to expand with CBD?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just created a CBD tincture for my dog. It\u2019s a tincture of 500 milligrams, full-spectrum, called K-9ine<\/a>. And it\u2019s only offered on my website, I\u2019m just putting it out there for other dog lovers. And I know it works: My dog couldn\u2019t walk for three days, but then he chased me up the stairs.<\/p>\n

Of all the cannabis legal states. What drew you to do business in Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma and Illinois? Was it just a matter of less barriers to entry or was there anything more?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ve also talked to companies in California, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. In Oregon and the other states where you can be a cultivator and distribute, I\u2019m just having better luck.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Are you trying to become the Bobby Flay of cannabis, or are you more of the Oprah? Through your show, you\u2019re making cannabis easy for the person who has no connection to any of this.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I have what it takes to create competence in cannabis. There are so many people that are curious about it, and I\u2019m trying to use \u201cGrowing Belushi\u201d to try and bridge that curiosity and show the viewers how it\u2019s grown, how it\u2019s tested as well as some of the medical things that revolve around it. Also, show them, this<\/em> is how you smoke a vape pen; this<\/em> is how you take an edible.<\/p>\n

Have you had to deal with any chest-pounding trolls on Twitter for being a Belushi and also championing cannabis?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, I haven\u2019t experienced that. But I\u2019ll tell you why. Everybody knows somebody who\u2019s suffering. Everybody wants to stop their relatives or their friends from suffering, and they\u2019re curious about cannabis. I know a lot of people are targeting the youth with cannabis, but there\u2019s a lot of interest among Baby Boomers, too.<\/p>\n

I literally take people into a dispensary and say \u201cLook, it\u2019s not a mom-and-pop place; it\u2019s not where drug dealers are hanging out. It looks like an Apple Store.\u201d I encourage people to just try going into a dispensary and not to be frightened.<\/p>\n

What does success look like for you now? Before, your definitions of success had to do with opening box office figures or the week-to-week Nielsen ratings of a TV show. Is this moment different because you\u2019re in it for the long game and you\u2019re in it to help people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I measure success by the letters and the tweets that I get from people who say our cannabis has helped them. Another measure that I\u2019ve already reached is breaking even on the business side of things! [Laughs<\/em>] I\u2019m investing in myself. Instead of the stock market, I\u2019m investing in the farm.<\/p>\n

Is \u201cGrowing Belushi\u201d going international?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s an international show now. We just made a deal with a foreign distribution company that\u2019s taking it all over the world.<\/p>\n

Ha!<\/em><\/strong> So, you are<\/em> becoming cannabis\u2019 answer to Bobby Flay or Guy Fieri!<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs<\/em>] Guy Fieri is actually in the show! He comes to the farm, and I make my ice cream for him, my chocolate. We cook some Albanian dishes. He cooks in my backyard and we make ribs in a smoker. The episode is awesome. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To watch Jim Belushi laugh without abandon is to see the best of America on his joyful face, an America that\u2019s unaffected by divisions or dangers at every turn: We see a deeply happy version of our next door neighbor. And it\u2019s a welcome sight to be sure. Jim Belushi is puffing on a cigar as he cruises through Southwest Oregon, taking his time on a late summer afternoon to talk fame, pain and cannabis from his inconspicuous-looking sedan. His royal blue polo shirt and black-framed glasses speak to a humility that one would think would be far-fetched from a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}