It is the love that I feel for a brother, a cousin, a friend, a father, a teacher, a coach, that compels me to write this. It's also the concern for my fellow brothers & sisters so that they don't experiment themselves into death. I owe it to Bruce, who taught his students to think critically and to not accept things by routine.
Bruce Lee used the mediuim of the t.v. and motion pictures to reach the status of a Great Spiritual leader. I became very interested in Taoism & Buddhism because of him. I'm sure he's at a happier plane or level now. He was fascinated by water. So, I think you don't have to worry about him forever gone. He has only transformed, the way water evaporates into air or turns into ice. You'll be surprised that much like Bruce's scientific approach to martial arts, you'll see how Buddhism & Taoism are scientific, yet simplistic & easy to understand. The more difficult a religion is or complex in its rituals, the less believable it becomes. The following research article is too important. People must have access to it, so here it is. I hope you have the attention span in reading this and I hope you read it thoughtfully. Meditate on this entire research article and contact me via email in 1 or 2 weeks. Please be 18 or older in reading this. I've kept a couple of spaces under this, so that if you're not 18, you can please ignore this article. Further, it's an abbreviated version for those with not enough time.
"Bruce Lee's Death: Nepalese Hashish, the common denomniator"
When Bruce Lee was location hunting for "The Game of Death" in Nepal, he started experimenting with Nepalese hashish by eating it. At first it didn't give him any problems. During the 4-5 months of filming "Enter the Dragon (EOD), the hash from Nepal he was taking was of a near-lethal strain or variety. People have trouble in believing an overdose by cannabis even when it's a much more potent form of cannabis like hash. Hash isn't leafy, it's a concentrated, sticky solid, like a mud brick. This tainted hash he was using made him angry so he often got into fights & arguments with co-workers and family. For many cannnabis is something that makes them feel mellow. Fior some people using cannabis, especially during the day or before work, it makes them have anger management issues.
Movie stars usually buy their drugs in bulk &
Bruce probably wasn't an exeception. So he probably bought a large brick of Nepalese Hash & broke off a piece & took it to work or anywhere else he would go. So, the main hash brick would be at home. Right away, this rules out posion since someone would have to keep poisoning the little bricks he took with him which is almost impossible for anyone to do. He also started getting bad headaches during this 4 or 5 month of using the lethal Nepalese hash strain. 4 or 5 months is too long a period for someone to poison anyone & give them headaches over time. These headaches bothered him so much that he spent a lot of money on a hotel call to a fellow martial artist, Unicorn, complaining mainly about his headaches. I belive these headaches were miniature cerebral edemas (or brain swellings) brought on by the potent Nepalese hash he was taking. 2 months before he died, he vomited, had convulsions & fainted in the EOD studios while doing voice overs. The doctor found a large amount of hash in his stomach and prescribed something that would reduce his brain swelling. There was no use of equagensic at this 2 month before his death incident. That's what I mean by common denominator, between these 2 almost identical events, the constant common thing was Nepalese hash. The British Hong Kong Doctor told Bruce not to take the hashish anymore. The doctor didn't seem convinced that Bruce would stop. It's worth noting that a Chinese Hong Kong Doctor did a study on Nepalese men and the effect of their hash use. This doctor found that they all had neurological problems. As you can guess, neurological problems can be migraines, convulsions, vomiting & fainting. All of this can be found on the web, specifically on a forum held by Ron Kosakowski of The Practical Self Defense Training Center (www.psdtc.com). Ron was nice enough to take the time to respond to me: "
...Remember, it...is the way hashish is held together & the chemicals used that killed him. I recommend that people research the ways they entertain themselves before jumping into anything." There's a theory in James Bishop'
s book, "Bruce Lee: Dynamic Becoming" (copyr. 2004, Promethean Press, pp. 157-167) that Bruce's hash supply waqs poisoned by organized crime. I can tell you based on the preponderence of the evidence, not only is this too much like "Fists of Fury" when he fights the Japanese martial arts school for poisoning his master, but this theory doesn't show any effective, real motive. Bruce was too much of a long term "cash cow" and a Chinese hero to be killed by the Chinese Triads. The more involved, any many-stepped a story or theory, the less believable it becomes. Also, inquest into what killed Bruce conducted in Sept. 1973 & which interviewed Betty Ting Pei & issued a final autopsy report didn't show any poisons in Bruce's liver. If they had gone to the lengths of an inquest, surely the gov't would have conducted a check for poisons. The Nepal hash by itself was poisonous, just because it was too strong. The day of his death, he either broke off a highly lethal part of the strain from the main hash brick, or ate a lot of it a Ting Pei's apartment after he parked his car. Bey Logan, (author of "Hong Kong Action Cinema" and an authority on Asian and martial arts films was quoted in Bishop's book (on pp. 162-165). Mr. Logan said that the equagensic was a red herring or scapegoat and that the hashish was tainted. I agree with him, the equagensic would've buffered thew effects the hash was having & it would've reduced, not caused his cerebral edema. Bey in that book said that Bruce might have tainted the hash with an afrodesiac or stimulant, but I disagreed with him and emailed Bey why I disagreed: Bruce would've learned from his mistake & wouldn't have added anything again after the incident in May 1973. Bey later emailed me & said that my research was pretty impressive and he didn't realize he was quoted in Bishop's book & asked me where he could purchase it.
I think that in May 1973, 2 months before Bruce died when his doctor told him not to take hash again,
Bruce saw the causal connection between his massive headaches & the hash. I don't think that prior to that he knew what was causing these headaches. When he returned to Los Angeles & visited his sister he told her that he didn't expect to be around long & that if anything happened she would be taken care of financially. Why would he say this unless he knew that if he took the Nepal hash again, it would once again cause him to have severe headaches, seizures and ultimately death? Finally, it must be noted that equagensic was used as a scapegoat to preserve Bruce Lee's image and to prevent a hash epidemic in Hong Kong and to prevent problems with life insurance payouts. One must also note that Hash from Nepal was the main factor that caused his cerebral edema. Other minor factors which facilitated his death were: 1) cosmetic, elective surgery related to removal of his sweat glands from his armpits & 2) his virtual zero-percent body fat. These 2 aforesaid factors removed any natural buffer or cushion like body fat that would lessen, the potent, lethal effects of the Nepal hash. In terms of genetic factors, Bruce's mom (after his death) suffered from alzheimers brain disease. This shows that he could've inhereited a hypersensitive brain from his mom. But this factor is an incidental one, a minor one.
I hope I've taken a stand for Bruce Lee and his many fans because "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" didn't do a good job in explaining unresolved issues about a great man like Bruce Lee--a public figure. Bruce wasn't killed by a curse of a dragon, Bruce didn't hurt his back losing a fight, he hurt it doing a certain bodybuilding exercise without warming up AND HE WON THAT FIGHT AGAINST THE CHALLENGER WONG JACK MAN and like Ghandi he held no political position but had a great influence, this victory over Wong was a victory for civil rights! It just seems still so strange that someone so healthy could die from weed's big bad brother--hash. How could someone so full of life, energy & good health lose a fight to something so inanimate, something so puny-looking, something so life-less like a clump of Nepalese Hash?!
In "The Big Boss", Bruce laments that his friends & relatives have "all been killed. Murdered in their sleep like so many pigs...They didn't even have mercy for the little kid." For Bruce, the murderer was Nepalese Hashish. It can murder in the sleep, causing the brain to swell and one to enter into a coma, and then death. It doesn't have any mercy on children. Someone ought to make sure that there won't be a need for another study of men in Nepal who used Hash and their neurological problems. Someone ought to make sure they never make Nepalese Hash or a lethal strain of hash ever again. I hope this provides a good, anti-recreational drug message. Thank you for your time in reading this. AND IF YOU ARE OVER 18, WHEN YOUR LOVED ON REACHES 18 OR OLDER, YOU MIGHT WANT TO LET THEM KNOW THIS SO THAT THEY DON'T THINK THAT HASH OR WEED IS SO INNOCENT.
It becomes even more important when Sunday, July 20, 2008 becomes the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee's death & when a movie comes out about Bruce Lee's philosophy, but still doesn't touch upon how Bruce Lee died.
Thanks, again.
Michael Sullivan, email: msullivan777@hotmail.com
Posted on Mar 1, 2008, 7:38 PM from IP address 65.88.88.252