*Name has been changed for anonymity
If you happen to find a package of Haribo gummy bears on the ground, feel free to indulge your sweet tooth — provided they are sealed. The 5-second-rule may have passed, but in Iowa City these gummies could be more than they appear. After popping a few in your mouth, you may be in for a surprise, depending on the origin of the bears. After hibernating in Nate’s* crackpot — sorry, crockpot — these bears are meant to help college students “chill out.” They won’t harm you. But they certainly pack a punch.
Nate, a college student, will spend an average night doing his homework and hanging out with his roommates. Unless of course, he gets a text from a friend in need of a sugary high, so to speak. He’ll turn to his Costco-sized box of Haribo bears and separate one from the bunch. After this, he must proceed with caution and care. He’ll add a few of his own bears to the bunch, and then re-seal the package using aluminum foil and a hair straightener. He won’t get too fancy, at least until the market becomes legal.
The demand for marijuana has been increasing steadily as the risk minimizes, thanks to a changing culture for Kush. Iowa legislation was introduced in January to raise the legal use of medical THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, from 3 to 13 percent. Under current law, possession of marijuana totaling under 3 grams is expungeable from permanent record. But what the police are looking for is not what Nate is making a profit from. Cops and dogs aren’t looking for closed, inconspicuous bags of candied green to rip open and examine.
“I want money,” Nate said. “Edibles are a very low-risk, high-reward scenario. People have expectations for bud, price-wise. Cops know what to expect with bud; they’re trained. I’ve done everything I can to mitigate the risk and it’s worked out so far. It’s a very calculated risk; I know what the payoff is and that there’s a very low risk of me getting caught.”
A global citizen, Nate has traveled with and shipped his bears internationally, the only alarms being the ones in his brain. This doesn’t mean his business is internationally booming, but he’s got a good thing going with his circle of buyers in Iowa City and abroad. Nate primarily sells to friends and trustworthy friends of friends to further minimize risk and keep his transactions simple. Venmo has changed the game for drug dealers, allowing discreet charges on private accounts with innocuous names. Having a history of small transactions with his buyers makes his charges unnoticeable.
To keep up with demand, Nate will make 700-800 bears per batch and sell them in packages of 5 or 10 bears for $10 or $15, respectively. Each bear contains a whopping 15-17mg of THC content. For reference, the recommended starting dosage for edible beginners is 1-2.5mg of THC, according to Leafly, the world’s largest cannabis information resource. With an average of 16mg of THC, Nate’s edibles are for well-seasoned consumers by Leafly standards.
Baked goods can be a hit or miss, as the THC distribution is inconsistent within the treat, so Nate has stuck with gummies. To make sure his bears all have the same THC he will average the reported THC from a dispensary and weigh the total bud and the bear. Then through his own Microsoft Excel calculations he’ll find the THC level of that particular bear. These bears have proved more profitable than Nate’s sales from bud or brownies.
“The biggest cost is usually the weed,” Nate said. “I’ll get that for $130-$140 an ounce. I’ll flip two ounces for around $250 and turn that into bears. The return on investment (ROI) is pretty decent; I usually make $1,200-$1,500 per batch. It’s over 100 percent ROI.”
The bigger fish in Iowa City’s pond are above Nate, but his gummy market allows him to make a clean profit of what he calls dirty money. The big fish give him good rates for the bud his recipe calls for, and then let him turn greenery into… well, green. For his wallet, that is. He’s a repeat customer, so they’re willing to work with him.
“In the world of drugs, your reputation is everything,” Nate said. “If you have a shitty reputation, you’re done for. You will never buy, you will never sell again.”
While he’s done with baked goods, his bears still sell like hotcakes. His recipe is standard for gelatin edibles, plus a dose of sunflower lecithin. The lecithin acts as a catalyst for heightened bioavailability, or the rate at which the brain processes THC.
The brain is the source of psychoactive effects, and the lecithin tricks the brain out of filtering the effects in order to achieve a bigger high. Mango also acts as a bioavailability converter, although sunflower lecithin is more potent, he says. The strain of bud is also important, and Nate always opts for the best quality of strains from California or Colorado dispensaries.
“I’ve used a bunch of different strains – my favorite is Alien OG,” Nate said. “I’ve found that one turns out the best. I can get it for fairly cheap, it has the highest THC content and is the easiest on me to convert [to edibles].”
As far as taste goes, Nate’s customers have no complaints. The favorite flavor is watermelon Jolly Rancher, but unfortunately, he wouldn’t give me the recipe – his collection of gummy-funded designer watches is too precious for anyone to be cutting into his profits.
“I’m not gonna give out the secret sauce,” Nate said. “I have my own special touches.”
Philip Runia 