Hard to say what’s worse – the number of suckers who fell for this Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip, or the arrogance of its main supplier. After all, the suckers dropped a cool two million. Then again, the main man kept at it even after getting indicted by the Feds. And if that’s not sheer arrogance, well, nothing is.
But, like all crazy schemes, this has come to an end, And a rather unceremonious end at that. For the main man, Ryan Stabile of Pasadena, California, has just been sentenced to two years,, as well as a further three years supervised release. Oh, he’s also been ordered to forfeit $1,833,922.
Guess there’s money in gas station heroin after all.
Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip
Yes, that Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip is just a fancy name for gas station heroin, which is made from a chemical called tianeptine, which is illegal in half the United States but readily available from China. That’s how Stabile worked his hustle: he’d import loads of tianeptine then package it all up into Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip, which has to be the worst name for a drug we’ve ever heard.
Apparently, not everyone thought so though. Not with over $2 million coming across Stabile’s dripping table.
Here’s how the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office played the story:
“Misbranded and unapproved drugs that are smuggled from overseas can present a serious health risk to those who buy and use them,” said Fernando McMillan, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation. “Tianeptine is an unsafe drug that is not approved for any use in the United States. All smuggled drugs carry additional risks of unknown ingredients and unknown manufacturing conditions. We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who attempt to traffic in these dangerous, misbranded, and unapproved drug products.”
Stabile was the owner of Supplements for Work, a company which sold the misbranded drug tianeptine, commonly known as gas station heroin, online. Through his company, Stabile marketed tianeptine as a mood enhancer and claimed that it improved cognitive functioning and falsely represented that he was selling tianeptine for research purposes only, even though he sold tianeptine to individuals for personal use.
Stabile smuggled tianeptine in multi-kilogram quantities from China into the United States, importing between 10-15 kilograms of tianeptine per month from a Chinese supplier. Once received, Stabile divided and repackaged the tianeptine and resold it on his websites in five-gram, 10-gram and 20-gram quantities for prices between $55 and $175. Stabile’s tianeptine sales averaged $250,000 per month and comprised 95 percent of his company’s profits.
Additionally, following his indictment by a federal grand jury in November 2019, Stabile continued to sell tianeptine on the internet for several years while on pre-trial release, under a different company and website called Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip.
In total, Stabile made at least $2.2 million in illegal tianeptine sales.
Nice.
Healing Properties Applauds
Healing Properties applauds Special Agent McMillan and the rest of the Feds who shut down the Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip. We can only imagine the amount of legwork that went into such a case. We’re all better off for their efforts.
If you or a loved one is having issues with opioids or depression, don’t fall for the Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip. Remember it’s just gas station heroin. You’re better off calling someone who can prescribe you something safe and sensible. Seriously.
Image courtesy Los Angeles Magazine.