Speedball (drug)

"Speedball"

Cocaine powder

Heroin powder

Speedball (also referred to as powerballing) is a term commonly referring to the intravenous use of cocaine with heroin or morphine in the same syringe.^[1] Some also use it with two syringes, one in each arm. The speedball can also be taken by insufflation. The original speedball used cocaine hydrochloride mixed with morphine sulfate, as opposed to heroin.^[2] The term can also be applied to use of pharmaceutical opioids, benzodiazepines or barbiturates along with stimulants. This cocktail of drugs can cause a strong physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms.

Physiological response

Cocaine acts as a stimulant, whereas heroin/morphine acts as a depressant. Co-administration is meant to provide an intense rush of euphoria with a high that is supposed to combine the effects of both drugs, while hoping to reduce the negative effects, such as anxiety, hypertension, palpitations and other common side effects of stimulants and sedation/drowsiness from the depressant. While this is somewhat effective, as one drug (the CNS stimulant) triggers the sympathetic nervous system and the other (the CNS depressant) triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, the two systems that regulate the fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest responses, respectively, and simultaneous activity of the two pathways is what normally keeps one's body in natural homeostasis, there is an imperfect overlap in the effects of stimulants and depressants. Additionally, by suppressing the typical negative side-effects of the two drugs, the user may falsely believe they have a higher tolerance, or that they are less intoxicated than they actually are. This can cause users to misjudge the intake of one or both of the drugs, sometimes fatally.

Because the stimulant effects of cocaine wear off far more quickly than the depressant effects of heroin or morphine, fatal respiratory depression often occurs when the full effects of a heroin or morphine overdosage are felt in isolation. Due to the countering effect of the cocaine, a fatally high opioid dose can be unwittingly administered without immediate incapacitation, thus providing a false sense of tolerance until it is too late. This form of delayed opioid overdose is believed to be the most common mechanism of death in speedball overdoses.

Notable deaths attributed to speedball use

• Jean-Michel Basquiat,^[3] though some sources list his death as heroin overdose only.^[4]
• John Belushi^[3]
• Ken Caminiti^[5]
• Chris Farley,^[3] died of cocaine and morphine sulfate overdose.^[6]
• Pete Farndon
• Zac Foley^[7]
• Lowell George
• Trevor Goddard^[8]
• Mitch Hedberg^[9]
• Philip Seymour Hoffman,^[10] died of cocaine, heroin, benzodiazepines, and amphetamines overdose.^[3][11][12]
• Sebastian Horsley^[13]
• Chris Kelly^[14]
• Brent Mydland^[15]
• River Phoenix^[16]
• DJ Rashad^[17]
• Eric Show^[18]
• Judee Sill^[19]
• Layne Staley^[20]
• Joey Stefano,^[21] died of cocaine, morphine, heroin and ketamine overdose.
• Hillel Slovak

Notable users

Circa 1900, Harry Kendall Thaw was an early user of the speedball. In 1996, Dave Gahan suffered a heart attack following a speedball overdose, but survived. Steven Adler had a stroke after taking a speedball, leaving him with a permanent speech impediment.^[22]

Among celebrities who admitted using speedballs are Chet Baker (in the documentary film Let's Get Lost), Megadeth front man Dave Mustaine, and bassist David Ellefson (in the documentary Behind The Music), Cream bassist Jack Bruce (as stated in an interview with Daily Record in 2009), Nikki Sixx (in The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star and The Dirt), Anthony Kiedis (in his autobiography Scar Tissue), Kurt Cobain (in his biography Heavier Than Heaven), David Crosby (in his autobiography Long Time Gone), Jerry Garcia, Miles Davis,^[23] and Slash (in his autobiography Slash). Slash experienced cardiac arrest for 8 minutes, but was revived.^[24] In Season 9, episode 207 of The Late Late Show, comedian Craig Ferguson admitted to using speedballs, but refused along with musician/actress Courtney Love (who said she had "done both parts" but "not together") to tell the audience what drugs are in speedballs, for "legal reasons".^[25]

See also

• Drug abuse
• Poly drug use
• List of drug-related deaths
• Combined drug intoxication

References

1. Healing Addiction: An Integrated Pharmacopsychosocial Approach to Treatment, Wiley-Interscience, 2007, p. 122
2. Original Speedball
3. "Death by Drugs: Fatal Celebrity Drug and Alcohol Addictions". gatehouseacademy.com. Retrieved 27 March 2010.ht
4. Encyclopedia of the African diaspora: origins, experiences, and ..., Volume 1 By Carole Boyce Davies. ABC-CLIO. p. 150.
5. Caminiti's death ruled accidental drug overdose The Record – Kitchener, Ont. 2 Nov 2004
6. "Chris Farley's Death Laid to Drug Overdose". New York Times. 3 January 1998. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
7. Peacock, Tim (1 October 2002). "OBITUARY: ZAC FOLEY". whisperinandhollerin.com. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
8. JAG star died from drug overdose, coroner rules Sydney Morning Herald. 6 August 2003.
9. Associated Press (27 December 2005). "Report: Mitch Hedberg died of drug overdose".
10. "Philip Seymour Hoffman Killed By Massive OD Heroin, Coke, Rx Meds". TMZ. 28 February 2014.
11. Coroner: Philip Seymour Hoffman died of acute mixed drug intoxication. CNN.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-12.
12. "Hoffman Died from Toxic Drug Mixture".
13. "UK artist Sebastian Horsley dies of overdose". Ninemsn. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
14. "Report: Kris Kross' Chris Kelly Autopsy Complete". MTV. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
15. Rolling Stone artists biography Search for "The Grateful Dead"
16. "Death of River Phoenix Is Linked To Use of Cocaine and Morphine". The New York Times. 13 November 1993. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
17. Gordon, Jeremy (7 August 2014). "DJ Rashad Died of Drug Overdose, Autopsy Confirms". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
18. "Rules of abuse". The San Diego Union-Tribune. 24 May 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
19. The Billboard guide to contemporary Christian music By Barry Alfonso. p. 243
20. "Report: Staley Died Of Heroin/Cocaine Overdose". Billboard. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
21. Who's who in contemporary gay and lesbian history: from World War ..., Volume 2 By Robert Aldrich, Garry Wotherspoon. Routledge. p. 387. Based on information from Charles Isherwood's Wonder Bread and Ecstasy
22. Himmelsbach, Eric (8 July 2004). "Little Drummer Boy Lost". LA CityBeat (Southland Publishing).
23. Davis, Miles; Troupe, Quicy (1990). Miles: The Autobiography. Simon & Schuster. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-671-72582-2.
24. Hudson, Saul (2007). Slash. United States: HarperEntertainment. p. 480. ISBN 978-0-06-135142-6.
25. Video. Youtube.com. Retrieved on 2015-07-28.

External links

• U.S. Office of National Drug Policy, National Trends in Drug Abuse Summer 1998, Special Section: Speedballing