The Story of HVPPY

I’m Dan Steele, and along with my wife Joie, we founded HVPPY. People often ask us how HVPPY came to be, so I thought I’d share our story in this blog post.

Joie and I first crossed paths at Burning Man in 2017. We bonded over our love for music and tied the knot in 2020.

Shortly after our wedding, the fentanyl crisis hit hard, deeply affecting our community of producers and friends. One day, tragedy struck when we lost one of our favorite producers. Joie turned to me and exclaimed, “We need to do something about this!” I hesitated, saying, “What can we do? You’re a costume designer, and I’m in tech.”

A few weeks later, I woke up to Joie saying, “You need to read this,” holding an article about Kanna. That day, while hiking our friends (and soon-to-be co-founder, Rich Belsky), Joie shared insights from the article, and one friend surprisingly had some Kanna with him. I chose not to partake since I was the designated driver, but Joie loved it.

We decided to order Kanna chews online and brought them along on vacation. The chews resembled bullion cubes more than candy; it took four for me to feel an effect, and while they numbed my mouth, I felt fantastic. The next morning at brunch, my mimosa reignited the effects, and while I enjoyed it, the form factor left much to be desired. So, we decided to create our own.

Coming from a fast-paced tech background, I naively thought we could hit store shelves within months. I was mistaken, but the journey taught us invaluable lessons. Kanna's history dates back to the 1650s when Dutch explorers encountered it in South Africa. Indigenous communities have used Kanna for various purposes throughout their lives, often introducing it to their children at birth through breastfeeding, believing it to be a mood stabilizer.

Here are a few fascinating use cases:

Hunting  

Indigenous hunters excel at tracking large game, often using smaller animals to aid in the hunt, spending days in pursuit. The hunters chew Kanna to suppress thirst and appetite, while it also helps maintain serotonin levels. After days of tracking, finding their prey likely triggers a serotonin release, creating a near-spiritual connection to their food.

Ceremony  

One of our team members spent over a decade in the South African bush, immersing himself in local traditions and gaining a deep understanding of Kanna. He built such strong relationships with the tribes that they invited him to participate in their ceremonies, even allowing him to light the candles. Knowing Kanna helps maintain serotonin levels, it’s no surprise that it plays a significant role in ceremonies often accompanied by dance.

Recognizing the plant's significance and deep-rooted traditions encouraged us to take a deliberate, thoughtful approach instead of rushing to retail. We dedicated over a year to developing formulations and establishing rigorous testing procedures to ensure we deliver a safe product that honors these traditions.

A significant challenge in developing our testing process was the tendency for people to associate us with cannabis. We spent considerable time seeking a lab that understood our mission. Eventually, we partnered with ACS Labs in Florida, an ISO-certified facility that tests a wide range of plant-based products and drugs, including work for the DEA.

Our process is as follows:

When we receive the raw plant material, we have it tested for heavy metals, pesticides, and narcotics. Assuming the test results come back with the plant being safe, we then have our manufacturer produce the final product and send it to ACS for testing. Once the product clears testing with ACS, we have it packaged, let it sit for two weeks, and then ship it in the packaging to ACS for one final test to ensure that there isn’t any cross-contamination from our packaging.

We can confidently say that everything we produce is safe to consume. Once we got to this point, we began having friends try it, and the results have been wonderful.

We are well on our way to achieving our mission to put something out into the world that helps people avoid taking dangerous street drugs, and we have had a number of experts in their field join the team to help us with this mission.

We are very proud of what we have been able to put together over the past few years and hope you enjoy what we’ve made.