Jim Belushi says the tragic death of his brother John (the actor, comedian and musician known for his roles on sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and the cult classic film “The Blues Brothers”) in 1982 ripped a hole in his family, leaving trauma and pain. “Addiction enters a family like a snake and starts to squeeze until somebody dies,” he says. “It collapses families.”

A famed actor, comedian and musician in his own right, Belushi spent years wrestling with John’s death, searching for meaning and purpose to it. It wasn’t until 2016, when he began cultivating cannabis on a farm he had acquired in Eagle Point, Ore., that he started to find answers to his questions. He’s not sure why cannabis cultivation appealed to him, but he’s adamant that he’s a changed person for it.

“Why am I doing this? I don’t know. I kind of stumbled into it, but it’s leading me to an understanding of my own brother’s death, the trouble that it caused in my family, the collapse of my family,” Belushi says. “And ever since I’ve been working with this cannabis, I’ve come a long way in healing all of that.”

With that newfound perspective, Belushi feels a responsibility to use his celebrity status to build a business that might help other individuals and families process their traumas. Thus, Belushi’s Farm was born.

Continue story at Cannabis Business Times