Cannabis infused edibles are, well, freaking amazing. You can eat and get high at the same time…there are not too many other better combinations. A student at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica is using the booming edibles market to her advantage by making and selling some very potent, and fairly expensive, cannabis infused brownies. And she is making bank.
The Jamaican Star reports that the student, who chose to remain anonymous so we will just call her Mary, hasn’t been selling her magically delicious brownies for very long. She says she only began her baked baking business because of the rising demand she sees around her and she has a wide-ranging, loyal clientele. Mary is also keeping it in the community and sources her materials from local producers…sort of. Basically, she is buying the cannabis used in her edible products from a local purveyor, who just happens to be a fellow student at the University of the West. Oh, college.
Each batch of Mary’s brownies demands specific supplies (including oil, eggs, brownie mix and cannabis) with expenses that total approximately $2,000 – yes, per batch. Each $2,000 batch makes 15 brownies (only?!) and each brownie sells for $300! Holy Smokes…er…Holy Edibles! That means at the end of the day, our friend Mary is taking home $4,500 (though she’s only netting $2,500 each batch as the other $2,000 goes straight back into buying more supplies for the next round of brownies).
The expense, $300 per brownie, is not prohibiting people from buying them, probably because the potency of each brownie is quite strong and makes it worth it. One customer of Mary’s reported having once experienced hallucinations after consuming an entire brownie at once. Wisey, that customer was not deterred one bit and instead of being scared to try edibles again, simply lowered the amount of brownie consumed at once and now only eats half of the brownie at a time.
Dosage issues might be the biggest hurdle edibles will have to clear in the end, at least as far as media portrayal is concerned. If you smoke too much cannabis you are going to pass out, vomit, maybe both – but you’re going to be okay. Vape too much, dab too much – it’s going to a be a little less…comfortable but you will still be okay. EAT too much weed? Well, there is no TELLING what is going to happen…or is there?
Since the adoption of legal, recreational cannabis in Colorado the media has reported on three separate instances where marijuana infused foods have been associated with a death. The first was 19 year old Levy Thamba Pongi, a student from Wisconsin visiting Colorado. After consuming a cannabis infused cookie, Pongi passed out, then woke up and leapt to his death from the balcony of his hotel room. The second was the murder of 44 year old wife and mother Kristine Kirk. Kristine called 911 after her husband, Richard, reportedly began to have hallucinations after consuming marijuana edible(s). During her call with 911, the operator heard Kristine urging Richard to stay away from their gun. Sadly, he continued to pursue the firearm and fatally shot his wife. Lastly, Luke Goodman, who was visiting Colorado after recently graduating college, took his own life while under the influence of cannabis edibles. None of Luke’s nearest and dearest reported that there was any indication of depression and were all very shocked by the shooting, which Luke attempted after consuming five times the recommended dose.
Some people have argued that edibles cause all three deaths. But causation is not correlation, and blaming edibles without any real proof that they were the cause does not make it a fact. And if it IS a fact, if edibles can make you crazy, only three people have GONE crazy and that is a pretty impressive track record as far as I’m concerned.
So if you’re in Jamaica, maybe even visiting the University of the West Indies, and you buy a $300 brownie – maybe only eat half at a time to start.