1.  He played at San Jose State and my buddy said this guy’s going pro after showing me his atheletic dunks and blocks. I was like, no way a SJSU guy is going pro, but after transferring to Gonzaga, Brandon Clarke did go pro.  Definitely defied my expectations.

1. I got food poisoning after eating Whole Foods sushi

Everyone ive ever heard around Memphis who has met him has said he was a super nice dude and down to earth.

Sad that you never know what demons people are battling. Addiction is a heartbreaking thing. RIP and hope his friends and family can find some peace.

Gary Parrish who works for the team (and writes for CBS) said he was such a great person. Always so nice to his kids and anyone he saw him interact with for team PR events.

Very sad.

Kratom needs to be properly regulated and it’s not, but felony trafficking charges for 235 grams of kratom is insane.

That’s less than 1 big pack from a gas station or head shop. A couple months of personal use, totally legal in most states. Doesn’t cause respiratory distress like heroin, oxies, fent, etc.

He’d been out with injuries a lot. Probably got hooked on the pain pills and it spiraled from there. 

Would not be surprised if he started on prescription pills when he was hurt and moved to heroin when they stopped giving him the pills.

There’s a great 30 for 30 about Chris Herron who played in the NBA for a bit and had a nasty drug problem. I highly recommend for anyone interested in seeing the life an addict lives while still be highly productive in the sports world.

Edit Herren* and it’s called Unguarded

Probably a coke user who got a bad batch

i would not be surprised if substance abuse issues, particularly opiates, are more common among players than you might think, especially those who are often injured

You underestimate how quickly a downward spiral can become a runaway train.

It could’ve just started for him.

It doesn’t take long to go from completely sober to a fiend

Also, the fact that there was cocaine opens up the possibility that he thought he was just getting a bag of coke that was contaminated with heroine.

All these drug dealers sell both and don’t care about cross contamination.

You see the druggies who are the bad examples, they’re in plain sight. What you don’t see is the millions (sadly) of people who use and live normal lives. You wouldn’t know unless they told you.

I’m slightly shocked you can be a cocaine addict while also an active heroin user.

It’s not that crazy when you consider heroin is probably the greatest drug ever. That’s why you shouldn’t do it even once. There’s nothing else like it. And when you have money and access to anything you want more or less, you may start the slippery slope of thinking it will be fine cuz you can find ways to deal with it But it’s not fine it’s still a horrid, addicting drug

more NBA players have done speedballs than you would imagine. finding heroin in his system doesn’t mean it was like someone shooting up like you always see in media

Could’ve also been some janky molly. I had a buddy who was a big fan, but was always very careful bc as he said, if you’re not getting clean/pure mdma, you never know whats in it.

I fucking hate drugs man… this guy had the world in his palm. Way too young.

Just imagine busting your ass off to get to the league, being the top of the top growing up, all for it to end like this. Just tragic man. 

I think about it every time I hear a gambling ad. That was a subtly jarring moment.

This might sound dramatic but that was one of the worst moments of an NBA broadcast I’ve ever witnessed. Shameful

A little tasteless to speculate but usually people go heroin then to kratom as an alternative, but end up back on heroin because that’s the true high they’re seeking. He was probably just dabbling around in everything.

Real heroin really isn’t impossible to find, especially if you have money. It’s pretty readily available on the onion.

The notion that real heroin has totally disappeared is false. Yes, many open air markets aren’t awash with heroin like they used to be, but Mexican number 4 and black tar are still widely available particularly to those who source their dope via private dealers using the “pizza delivery” method i.e. cell phone order and drop off.

I would bet he tried to use kratom to kick heroin. It’s really good to curb withdrawals. But obviously it didn’t take

235 grams? I would buy them from a shop down the street here in Chicago in 500 gram increments. It wasn’t illegal at the time, was it?

AJ Green former NFL wide receiver had a lot to say regarding injuries and mental health because one of the WRs he mentored and treated as a son also passed away to suicide due to the season ending injuries he suffered.

Highly recommend everyone give it a read. Warning it’s very heartbreaking but I hope AJ writing about Rondale and Clarkes passing can help improve mental health issues in sports .

River Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman lost their lives to speedball as well. A terrifying drug

A Belushi

Sounds like maybe Coke that was laced with heroin unknowingly?

Speedballing was a thing a good while back and mixing the two definitely has taken out a few people. John Belushi famously went out like that and the mix is sometimes called a belushi.

mixing is bad news though. dose heroin dose cocaine dose heroin again cocaine wears off, respiratory failure

Thanks doc, what else did you find?

What does that have to do with anything? Trying to spin cocaine in a more socially acceptable light?

Somewhat silly comment here. Plenty of people have substance abuse issues, and we also have no idea when this began. He spent significant time out with injuries, and the last game he played was before Christmas, almost five months before he died.

The line between opiates for pain and pleasure are pretty thin, and guys play taking them for pain all the time. Xanax too especially is popular all over in part just to get to sleep. There’s a whole spectrum of drug use and addiction 

Likely happened while he was out with injuries. Boredom and pain pills are a deadly mix

Met him a few times around town and was always humble and nice. Addiction is a bitch. Probably had that kratom to try to kick the habit

It’s called a speedball. Its an intense euphoric high that makes users feel like they get the best feeling of both drugs without the negative effects. Ie being too down or too stimulated

Legalization hasn’t worked here in Vancouver. Overdose deaths are still happening.

Legalization of all drugs is the only way to begin to curtail overdoses

Enforced banning and hard punishment worked pretty well in east Asia

First of all name checks out. Second of all, that is just such a stupid and naive take. Imagine thinking that giving people more drugs would make problems with drugs less likely. Just amazingly boneheaded. 

the combination isn’t accidental, but the overdose is assumed to be

no one will ever know where he intentionally overdosed, but we all know he purposefully chose this combination

Because it’s Los Angeles

If the police or coroner is involved in the investigation of someone’s death them that’s probably deemed of public interests

Sweet take bro, you should become a councilor with that vast wealth of knowledge 💩

obviously, the assumption is that while he voluntarily injected the speedball, he didn’t intentionally overdose.

now, it’s certainly possible it was intentional to OD, but with these types of things people generally prefer to assume they’re not. in addition, it’s quite easy to OD on a speedball and not all ODs result in death.

What a stupid comment