A very common mixture of drugs that has grown in popularity over the past few decades is the speedball. The opioid epidemic is creating new drug users by the thousands on a daily basis. Often times when a person starts using drugs like Oxycontin or heroin they will experiment with other available substances. Opioids cause users to experience a calming and almost sleepy effect, so users experiment with adding stimulants to the mix.
What Is A speedball?
A speedball or (Powerball) typically refers to mixing heroin and cocaine The term speedball is also used to describe mixing any powerful stimulant with a powerful depressant. Using both these substances at once or within a very short time period is known as a speedball. Users are hoping to achieve the rush of the stimulant (upper) along with the calming effects of the depressant (downer).
The combination of these 2 drugs does not cancel each other out. They increase each others’ high. This means 1 + 1 doesn’t = 2. Due to the effects of drug synergy 1+1 = 3. The common speedball we hear about in the news and pop culture is mixing heroin and cocaine. The person doing this gets an extreme rush from the cocaine and then a calming effect from the heroin directly after. Powerful stimulants often have a horrible crash when the effects wear off. The user is trying to mitigate the crash by adding in the downer. Many users believe by mixing an upper and a downer it will cancel the negative effects of the other drug. Mixing drugs is extremely dangerous and can be deadly.
What Drugs Are In A Speedball?
The most common speedball is mixing heroin and cocaine or morphine and cocaine. But the term speedball is used in the drug world to describe mixing any upper with and downer. Meth and heroin have become a very common and powerful speedball. A very common speedball that many people across the country use all the time is Redbull and vodka. Red bull is an energy drink that increases heart rate and breathing and has caffeine it is considered a stimulant. Vodka is alcohol which is a central nervous system depressant. Alcohol slows down the heart rate, breathing, and reaction time, and is classified as a depressant.
Drinks like Fourloko are basically a speedball in a can. This is why four Loko and other products like it were banned in many places. The combination of mixing an upper and downer is very dangerous. In many cases, the stimulants mask the effects of the depressants for a time. This is dangerous because a person will think they are substantially less drunk than they actually are. This leads people to do things such as driving that they normally wouldn’t because the upper is masking the effects of the downer and the person thinks they are sober enough to drive.
What Are The Effects of A Speedball?
The stimulant triggers the sympathetic nervous system and the depressant triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which are the systems that help keep our bodies in an even state. The effects send our normal regulatory state into a confused state of overdrive.Our bodies don’t know how to react because they have one substance telling our organs to speed up and get more focused and the other saying slow down and relax.
Users combine these drugs to try and mitigate the negative effects of the other drugs and increase the positive effects of each. Cocaine wears off a lot quicker than heroin so by mixing them users want to cut out the negative comedown and subsequent crash of cocaine. Typically when the cocaine or upper starts to wear off the downer is kicking in. This is the result the user is chasing.
What often happens is the user does more heroin than normal because they have a false sense of tolerance. This creates a situation where they go into fatal respiratory depression but they don’t know it yet. The cocaine is still pumping their system up but when the cocaine wears off the full effects of the overdose from heroin kick in and it’s often too late.
A very common side effect of speedballs is a “coherent blackout”. A coherent blackout is when a person seems ok to everyone around them but they are in a full blackout stage. This is because the uppers are masking some of the negative effects of the downers. This is particularly dangerous because the person thinks they are in better shape than they really are.
Why Are Speedballs So Common?
Speedballs are very common with active drug users and drinks like Redbull and vodka are always popular with the younger drinking crowd. The reason is these downer drugs like heroin, morphine, and alcohol are very powerful and slow our system down. Many people want the “social lubricant” effects of these downers without the“laziness, nod out, and pass out” effects, so they use the uppers to combat that.
The major problem with this is we don’t think we are as high as we are. The upper is masking the effects. I’ve seen hundreds of people and been one myself that went from totally fine to blackout drunk in seconds because the alcohol finally took over.
“I remember a night when I drank about 10 mixed drinks and by the 6th or 7th I was feeling good and slowly getting more drunk. By 10 I was really drunk and starting to fall asleep.
Two nights later I drank the same amount except I mixed the alcohol with an energy drinks instead of soda. On the 9th drink I still felt fine barley drunk, all of a sudden on 10 I got hit with a wave of “drunkness” like nothing I’ve ever felt. It came so fast and strong I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was stumbling all over and counldn’t help myself. The worst part was I layed down but because of the energy drink I couldn’t sleep.”
Trying to Find Balance
The entire goal of doing a strong upper and strong downer together is trying to get that balance of the best of both drugs.
“I have done well over a thousand speedballs in my life, Mostly heroin and cocaine, and maybe 5 times have I ever found “the good balance”.
-KAR
The reality is one of the drugs usually kicks in stronger than the other. This creates a false sense of tolerance. When this happens we do more of the opposite drug to try and balance it out. This never works! We end up doing too much and going into a complete state of unbalance continuing to do more of each in an attempt to balance out the other. While doing this our bodies are going into panic mode trying to figure out what to do. First, our body says “ok calm down, lower blood pressure”, then a second later it’s “speed up, faster heart rate”. This creates chaos in our internal regulatory system.
Celebrity Deaths Caused By Speedballs
Mac Miller
Mac Miller was born Malcolm James MacCormick was an American rapper from Pittsburgh PA. Miller was at the peak of his career at the time of his death. Miller had released multiple albums and was also a producer on multiple rap albums. Mac had a close relationship with fellow Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa. Miller was dating megastar Ariana Grande for a time before his death. On September 7th, 2018 Miller was found dead in his Studio City Home. His death was ruled an accidental overdose from fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.
Chris Farley
Chris Farley was an over-the-top entertainer, comedian, and actor. Farley’s loud and energetic style gained him a reputation around the comedy world. He was known to seriously injure his body if it would get laughs from people. Farley is most famous for his time on Saturday Night Live as well as movies such as Black Sheep, Tommy Boy, Coneheads, and Beverly Hills Ninja. Farley died in Chicago at the age of 33 due to a drug overdose. The official report concluded he died from a cocaine and heroin mixture (speedball). Farley’s idol John Belushi died at the same age also from a speedball years earlier.
River Phoenix
River Phoenix was an up-and-coming star in the ’80s and early ’90s. He was considered a teen idol with an extensive body of work under his belt by age 23. River is the older brother of Joaquin Phoenix. River died on Halloween night 1993 on the sidewalk in front of The Viper Room, a West Hollywood club. He was at the club with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Depp, Gibby Haynes, Al Jourgensen, Samantha Mathis (River’s girlfriend), Joaquin Phoenix, and Rain Phoenix.
John Belushi
John Belushi was at the peak of his career at the time of his death. He was known as one of the funniest people in Hollywood. He was visited by friends Robert Deniro and Robin Williams the day before his death. Sources say they were there to talk to him about his drug use. Belushi was found dead in bungalow 3 at the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, on March 5th, 1982. His death was caused by speedball (my drug of choice during my addiction). Speedball usually refers to the combination of cocaine and heroin which is what Belushi overdosed and died from. The term speedball can also be used to refer to any combination of drugs when one is an upper (stimulant) and one is a downer (depressant).
Scott Weiland
Scott Weiland was a musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots and also was in the band Velvet Revolver. Scott recorded over 6 albums with Stone Temple Pilots and multiple albums with other bands. Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota in December 2015. Cocaine, Xanax, Buprenorphine, and Viagara were found in Weiland’s system.
Kyle Ruggeri, CARC (Certified Addiction Recovery Coach) is a recovering addict/alcoholic. Kyle created Soberdogs Recovery as a way to get accurate and first-hand information about addiction and recovery out to the world. Kyle has been in recovery for over 5 years.
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