From Saturday Night Live to his most infamous performance of a perpetually intoxicated fraternity member in Animal House, John Belushi has and continues to entertain audiences of various generations. His photograph is one that can often be found adorning the dormitory walls of modern college students hoping to have an experience in college that the cult hero would be proud of. His most recent performance that garnered any kind of critical acclaim, however, was given over thirty years ago with his portrayal of Jake Blues in the comedic classic The Blues Brothers. John Belushi has never been described as a one hit wonder; his most recent performance was given during what many consider the height of his popularity within the media. The reason for his long-standing absence from the big screen is not due to waning popularity. John Belushi died March 5th, 1982 from an extreme drug overdose involving Cocaine and Heroin.
Born in Chicago, Illinois to a family of Albanian immigrants, Belushi discovered his love for acting sometime during his high school career where he was both the captain of Wheaton Central High School’s football team as well as the homecoming king during his senior year. Belushi pursued his acting career through his short stint in college where he was responsible for forming an improvisation based acting troupe before leaving to pursue his career more professionally. He spent time acting in Chicago before relocating to New York City where he joined the acting company National Lampoon and eventually linked up with Saturday Night Live, the hyper-successful television program that would launch his career to the point of stardom. His career would run high until the night of March 4th, 1982 where Belushi destroyed his own ...
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...ine on the brain can cause extreme stress on the central nervous system and are even able to cause a complete shutdown of the nervous system if they are both taken in large enough dosage.
The dangers of drug use do not simply extend to the use of one drug by itself. As in the case of John Belushi, an already dangerous chemical can be made twice as deadly if combined with an equally dangerous chemical and can easily lead to the demise of even the most acclimated drug users. Unfortunately, the use of drugs in high doses still continues to this day, and recent deaths in Hollywood such as Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston will not be the last to grace the pages of entertainment tabloids and national newspapers. Hopefully no more martyrs need to be made out of an already deplorable situation within celebrity, but history has an all too visible way of repeating itself.
Sinbad grew up as the son of a minister in Benton Harbor, MI and went to a respectable high school where he excelled in basketball. He attained a scholarship to the University of Denver in hopes that it would open up some doors for him but he was cut off when he suffered a career ending knee injury. In 1983, he embarked on his self-subsidized “Poverty Tour” of comedy clubs across the U.S. His career started to take off, when he made several appearances on the talent show “Star Search”. He then landed a few small parts on T.V. show’s eventually catching the eye of Bill Cosby who put him on his new show “A Different World” in which he played a kind dorm director at an all black college. This led him into a few starring and co-starring roles in major motion pictures and made the name Sinbad, a household name across the country.
Drug addiction is on the largest contributing factors for the deaths of millions of people throughout out the ages. Todays day in age drugs have become more dangerously more potent than they were a decade back. The majority of the population believe that the reason addicts become hooked on drugs because the the chemical triggers found in the drug. This has caused many society as a whole to look down on drug addicts and treat them with less respect than anyone who is not a drug addict. Johann Hari is an english author and journalist who was published articles in newspapers like the New York times, Huffington post and the Guardian, Hari has published his own book Chasing the Scream were he goes into a three year journey on the war on drugs.
Throughout “Chasing the Scream” many intriguing stories are told from individuals involved in the drug war, those on the outside of the drug war, and stories about those who got abused by the drug war. Addiction has many social causes that address drug use and the different effects that it has on different people. In our previous history we would see a tremendous amount of individuals able to work and live satisfying lives after consuming a drug. After the Harrison Act, drugs were abolished all at once, but it lead to human desperation so instead of improving our society, we are often the reason to the problem. We constantly look at addicts as the bad guys when other individuals are often the reasons and influences to someone’s decision in
Joan River’s was born on June 8, 1933 in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York. From a very young age, Joan was fascinated with acting. Rivers performed in every school play and was involved in theater where she attended Barnard college. After college, she worked as a comedian to get herself out there, but her main goal was to be an actress. In a way, being a comedian was her way of acting the part, much like an actress would do. Along the way, Joan married a producer by the name of Edgar Rosenberg. The couple had a daughter named Melissa Rivers. Joan Rivers stated that the marriage was a good one, for they supported similar goals and worked together on projects. Joan Rivers first big break came from being on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Born in Massapequa, New York in 1954, Seinfeld soon discovered the attention that making jokes could garner him, and he admits to having been a class clown throughout his education. After college, Seinfeld starting touring the nation's comedy clubs and college campuses with his odd brand of observational humor. Seinfeld would notice something from society, someone who talked too close to another person for example, and h...
Williams quit for many reasons mainly because his marriage to Valerie was going down the drain, and she was pregnant. Also one of his friends, Jon Belushi died of an overdose. Although Williams was not present when Belushi passed, he had just snorted with Belushi just mere hours before. Williams commented, " The Belushi tragedy was frightening. His death scared a whole group of show business people.
The consequences that follow the use of any drug are unfavorable. Although many individuals may see drug addiction as a mere lifestyle choice, it is a problem that many individuals suffer from and inevitably a growing issue that leaves major social and economic impacts.
Drug abuse has changed over the years due to the trends that Americans face from the encouragement of different cultures. The abuse of substances creates many health problems. The following will discuss the past and current trends of drug use and the effects these drugs have on the health of the individuals who abuse the drugs.
The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.
These microglial cells then induced inflammation in the cerebellum, which resulted in the learning and coordination problems (Rettner para.5). Considering it is nearly impossible to test for the drug it poses a control problem.
Drugs are used to escape the real and move into the surreal world of one’s own imaginations, where the pain is gone and one believes one can be happy. People look on their life, their world, their own reality, and feel sickened by the uncaringly blunt vision. Those too weak to stand up to this hard life seek their escape. They believe this escape may be found in chemicals that can alter the mind, placing a delusional peace in the place of their own depression: “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly halucinant,” (52). They do this with alcohol, acid, crack, cocaine, heroine, opium, even marijuana for the commoner economy. These people would rather hide behind the haze than deal with real problems. “...A gramme is better than a damn.” (55).
Jazz and drugs are often a mixture of destruction being that many musicians were associated with drugs like heroine, alcohol, and marijuana. (Jazz Culture, Pg,78) Drugs killed many musicians at a very young age. Paul Chambers of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania transformed the bass from outlining triads to playing intricate melodies. According to Frater, Jamie (July 8, 2009) He suffered from alcoholism, heroin addiction, and tuberculosis. ( Top 10 Jazz Artist Who Died Young, Lis)
Drug in the American Society is a book written by Eric Goode. This book, as the title indicates, is about drugs in the American Society. It is especially about the misuse of most drugs, licit or illicit, such us alcohol, marijuana and more. The author wrote this book to give an explanation of the use of different drugs. He wrote a first edition and decided to write this second edition due to critic and also as he mentioned in the preface “there are several reason for these changes. First, the reality of the drug scene has changed substantially in the past dozen or so years. Second much more information has been accumulated about drug use. And third, I’m not the same person I was in 1972.”(vii). The main idea of this book is to inform readers about drugs and their reality. In the book, Goode argued that the effect of a drug is dependent on the societal context in which it is taken. Thus, in one society a particular drug may be a depressant, and in another it may be a stimulant.
...re. The positive and negative effects are so drastic and large that it is hard to comprehend just how much we owe to the habits of musicians past. Some argue that that part is a positive thing and that drugs are a good thing for creativity and therefore music, many argue that the part it plays takes a toll. Many famous performers have fallen victim to drugs and died premature deaths from related accidents. Amy Winehouse, a famous solo recording artist, who was famous for making music while under the influence, found dead of overdose. She was perhaps most famous for the honesty she had about her addictions in her songs. Another great musician, Jim Morrissey, also was found dead of overdose. As were many icons of music; Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon, John Bonham. All these were a direct result of the drug and music culture that they were a part of.
Drug abuse dates as far back as the Biblical era, so it is not a new phenomenon. “The emotional and social damage and the devastation linked to drugs and their use is immeasurable.” The ripple of subversive and detrimental consequences from alcoholism, drug addictions, and addictive behavior is appalling. Among the long list of effects is lost productivity, anxiety, depression, increased crime rate, probable incarceration, frequent illness, and premature death. The limitless consequences include the destruction to personal development, relationships, and families (Henderson 1-2). “Understandably, Americans consider drug abuse to be one of the most serious problems” in the fabric of society. And although “addiction is the result of voluntary drug use, addiction is no longer voluntary behavior, it’s uncontrollable behavior,” says Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Torr 12-13).