From a high-end dispensary opening up in Barneys New York to cannabis-infused pastilles and $20 chocolate bars, luxury cannabis has been all the rage this past year. The trend makes sense. Savvy entrepreneurs see a huge yet untapped market of canna-curious customers with lots of disposable income. But what about consumers who want the "premium" experience without the premium price tag?

That's where companies like Quarter Brands come in.

Quarter, named for its $25 quarter-gram oil vape pens, has positioned itself as a quality brand for consumers who don't want to spend a ton of money. “The emphasis has been on super-premium brands,” says Quarter co-founder Jackee Stang, “but nobody was going after affordable luxury.” 

Her line of disposable vape pens has been available through MedMen and some independent dispensaries since March. Last month, Quarter spread to more dispensaries through a partnership with distributor HERBL and plans to release a line of pre-rolls by the end of 2019. 

Stang compares Quarter products to the impulse buys stocked near the cash register at Whole Foods—think organic chocolate and uncured bison jerky. The quality has been vetted and the price is not prohibitive. 

“It’s for the consumer on the go that understands quality and respects their experience enough to get the highest quality, not the cheapest thing on the shelf,” Stang says. 

How the brand came to be

The desire to offer a more accessible, premium marijuana experience came from Stang’s personal experience. As a former VP of programming for High Times, Stang noticed that she had access to the highest quality cannabis that other consumers might not even know about. That didn't seem fair. "We got to have the best cannabis for ourselves, and we wanted to provide that to the consumer, but at a reasonable price,” she says

So she left her job and founded Quarter with her husband Matt Stang, who is Chief Revenue Officer at High Times. She says deep connections, made over decades in the cannabis industry, have been their secret weapon. 

“Matt knows the best growers, best prices, and best extractors and blenders," Stang says. "And then he’s putting that product into the best tech from the best manufacturers. It’s a community and network that is unmatched. It makes it possible to create a very high-quality product and great value in terms of price.”

Black market competition

But keeping the quality up and the cost down hasn't been easy. The downside to affordable luxury cannabis is the competition from black market actors who aren't playing by the same rules. While the legal marijuana space faces a regulatory and tax landscape that pushes prices higher, the unregulated, untaxed illicit businesses are able to sell their products at much lower prices.  

Although Stang voices strong support for the laws governing weed in California, she concedes that given the frequent regulatory changes—such as the requirement that went into effect July 1 for all legal cannabis to be independently lab tested—and the price-setting power of the dispensaries, a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) doesn’t necessarily mean that's what customers pay.

“We can supply top-quality vape oil pens and tell them the MSRP is $25, but we can’t control what they sell it for,” she says. “Even if they’re making a 100 percent markup, we have no control over negotiating our relationship and what they sell it for.”

Even so, compared to the risk of buying untested product on the black market, which may contain pesticides or mystery additives, Stang feels Quarter strikes an important balance between quality and price. “The cheapest thing on the shelf isn’t always the greatest thing for your health,” she says.

Market response

With its retro labels, Quarter is aimed at consumers who have busy lives and may not be weed enthusiasts, but who know quality and want a good value. The information on the label is clear, with targeted mood states promising energy, relaxation or just feeling good. 

So far customer response has been enthusiastic, says Eric Bava, Quarter director of brands, says the

“People say the brand is very approachable with the fun, bright colors, and love how we simplified the way of identifying the various strains and flavors.” 

Bava says that demand is there for a high-quality vape pen at a lower price, but the challenge in a crowded marketplace is to entice customers to try Quarter. “The simple approach combined with the quality of the product has allowed Quarter to make a big splash in such a short time on the market," he says.

Senior operating staff working at CannTrust Holdings Inc.’s Pelham, Ont. facility late last year brought cannabis seeds from the black market into production rooms, leading to some illicitly-grown pot flowing into the legal market, according to internal company documents obtained by BNN Bloomberg and four sources directly familiar with the matter.

The documents suggest that, in an apparent effort to conceal the black market cannabis seeds from regulatory inspections and other staff members, some CannTrust employees changed the names of as many as 20 strains to those which the company was licensed to sell in the legal medical and recreational markets.

Cannabis plants from at least two strains that originated from the black market-sourced seeds entered production rooms where they were fully grown to flower, packaged and sold into the recreational market, according to the sources.

In total, more than one thousand cannabis plants that originated from the illicit seeds were grown at CannTrust’s cultivation facility, the documents show. It is unknown how many of those plants were eventually processed for sale or destroyed, according to two of the sources.

Adding cannabis seeds obtained through the black market would have allowed CannTrust to significantly bolster its production at a time when it had overcommitted itself with supply contracts with provinces and other licensed marijuana producers, the sources said.

Three of the sources said that unauthorized activity ramped up shortly after CannTrust president Brad Rogers and its head of production, Michael Ravensdale, left the company last October. 

CannTrust spokesperson Jane Shapiro told BNN Bloomberg in an emailed statement that “to the best of our knowledge, no product using seeds from unauthorized external sources was introduced into the market.”

“[Green] has a passion for developing new cannabis strains, constantly improving growing methods and efficiencies, and passing his knowledge onto budding growers at the CannTrust Niagara Perpetual Harvest Facility,” CannTrust said on its website.

The team that Green allegedly tasked with handling the unauthorized cannabis was dubbed “The Brady Bunch” by other staff members, the three sources said. 

“[Green’s team] didn't order [the seeds] through the normal chain of command,” alleged one of the sources directly familiar with the production of unauthorized cannabis. 

“There is no way because it would take way too long if you wanted to do it right. I asked myself, 'We already have [the strain] Cannatonic. How come we have Cannatonic here and I have to take care of these [new] seedlings?’ I learned that they're under those names because those are the registered names that we have which we're allowed to grow, but they're really not those [strains].”

A screen grab of Brady Green's biography on CannTrust's website earlier this week. It was removed from the company's website Friday morning. (Screen grab/canntrust.ca)

Green did not respond to BNN Bloomberg’s multiple requests to comment for this story.

Licensed cannabis producers grow their legal marijuana plants either straight from seeds obtained through Health Canada-authorized suppliers or cut “clones” from mother plants which are transferred to larger cultivation rooms in order to flower under optimal conditions.

Plants grown from two strains of CannTrust’s black market-sourced cannabis seeds – listed in internal company documents as “Citradelic Sunset” and “Code Black OG” before being re-labelled  – eventually entered into production rooms where they were packaged and sold into the recreational market, two of the sources with direct knowledge of CannTrust’s operations said. 

Another source with direct knowledge said several unauthorized strains re-labelled under the “Cannatonic” strain also entered the recreational market.

“I can guarantee you they would harvest [plants that originated from black market seeds], trim them and send them out … Guaranteed, they went to the legal market. I can tell you 100 per cent they did,” one of the sources said.

Nick Lalonde, a former CannTrust employee who was responsible for disposing of cannabis at its Pelham facility and who previously blew the whistle on fake walls being installed to shield unlicensed production, told BNN Bloomberg he was instructed to deceptively label unauthorized product when he was cataloging waste material.

"No one [from Health Canada] had a clue about the seeds," Lalonde said in a recent phone interview.

None of the claims made by Lalonde or the sources who were granted anonymity by BNN Bloomberg have been tested or proven by a regulator or law enforcement.

The alleged strain-name subterfuge is the latest example of apparent wrongdoing at the beleaguered cannabis producer which has been beset by various forms of material suggesting the company's senior management approved plans that led to thousands of kilograms of cannabis being grown in unlicensed rooms.

Those revelations include meeting minutes obtained by BNN Bloomberg where former CEO Peter Aceto instructed staff in November to "continue as planned" growing cannabis in unlicensed rooms.

CannTrust later fired Aceto with cause and ousted co-founder Eric Paul from his role as chairman as the company awaits potential enforcement action by Health Canada as a result of non-compliance.

The federal regulator has a wide range of enforcement options it could choose to act upon, including a $1-million fine, a warning letter, and the suspension or revocation of CannTrust’s licence to grow and sell cannabis.

Aceto declined to comment for this story. Paul didn’t return requests for comment.

Health Canada spokesperson Tammy Jarbeau told BNN Bloomberg in an email that it is illegal for a licence holder to possess cannabis obtained in any way other than from another licensed producer, an authorized retailer or through an approved import permit. They can make a one-time application to introduce genetic material from the black market when applying for a new licence as long as it doesn't “represent an unacceptable risk to public health or safety.” 

“If a licence holder is found to possess cannabis seeds or plants that were obtained in any other way, the Cannabis Act contains a number of enforcement tools that may be considered in determining the appropriate actions to prevent or address non-compliance, based on a review of the situation and all relevant information, including the health or safety risk and the compliance history of the individual or corporation,” Jarbeau said.

Jarbeau added that under the Cannabis Act, the penalty for illegal distribution or sale of cannabis can range from fines for small amounts to imprisonment for a term of up to 14 years. She declined to directly address the claims made by sources cited in this story.

In a subsequent email, another Health Canada spokesperson told BNN Bloomberg “Health Canada is currently reviewing all information provided by CannTrust and will determine any appropriate compliance and enforcement action needed.”

CannTrust spokesperson Jane Shapiro told BNN Bloomberg the company’s management “is not aware of any inquiry to Health Canada for a one-time application to introduce genetic material from unauthorized external sources in licensing applications.”

Separately, CannTrust said in a release late Thursday that it laid off 180 staff members, mostly in cultivation and customer service roles. The cuts represent approximately 20 per cent of the company’s workforce and are expected to provide $9 million in annual cash savings, the company said. Shapiro told BNN Bloomberg none of the job cuts were with cause.

"We remain fully committed to building the organization we need for future success and rebuilding the trust of all of our stakeholders," said interim CannTrust CEO Robert Marcovitch in a statement. 

The Canadian government legalized recreational cannabis in October 2018 as part of an effort to eliminate the black market from selling the drug. Despite legalization, the black market still accounts for roughly two-thirds of all cannabis sales in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, and its product has found ways of entering the legal market.

In February, Health Canada suspended the sales licence of Winnipeg-based Bonify Medical Cannabis after a third-party investigator determined the company's ex-management used an outside agent to procure illegal cannabis from the black market.

RavenQuest BioMed chief executive officer George Robinson, who was called in to tackle the problems at Bonify, told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview that some cannabis producers may face pressure to tap the black market to acquire new strains in order to differentiate their products from competitors.

“If you’re going to compete with the black market, you’re going to need to compete with the black market genetics that get a lot of attention through cannabis competitions or magazine profiles in High Times,” said Robinson, who pointed out he never brought illicit material into a cannabis company he operates. “How do you differentiate yourself from a company if everyone is selling a ‘CBD Kush’?”

Robinson, who has no direct knowledge of CannTrust’s operations, added that if a cannabis company’s senior management opts to take a blind eye to regulators, “the rest of the company will likely follow suit.”

Once a politically dangerous subject, legal marijuana has become something of a de facto platform plank for the 2020 Democratic candidates: All support either legalizing or decriminalizing its use, and the differences lie in just how far the candidates are willing to take it.

But those differences — particularly former Vice President Joe Biden's reluctance to embrace full federal legalization and the lack of enthusiasm that increasingly organized young marijuana activists have for him — may play a role in determining who faces President Donald Trump next fall, experts said.

“People from both parties are just thinking ‘Duh, we should be legalizing this at the federal level,’” said Rachel Gillette, a Denver-based cannabis activist and attorney. “It would be great if they could focus on this. It’s time.”

Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennett are all co-sponsors of a Senate proposal that would make marijuana legal, expunge criminal records and create a reinvestment fund to aid communities hurt by the War on Drugs.

“The debate has changed dramatically in the past couple years. It’s very new. It’s very new, and it’s very welcome," said Andy Bernstein of HeadCount, a voter-registration nonprofit targeting concertgoers and cannabis users. "A decade ago, mentioning marijuana made you a fringe candidate. Today, you’re out of the mainstream if you don’t have a position, and a position to provide greater access.”

The 2020 election is a far cry from the 2016 race, when Sanders was the only major-party candidate to call for legalization. Relentless behind-the-scenes lobbying has helped shift the conversation among Democrats during this election cycle, taking place at a time when 65% of Americans now say medical marijuana should be available to adults, according to an April CBS News poll. 

The poll highlighted a major demographic split: while only 49% of people 65 and older support legalization, the number jumps to 72% for people aged 18-34. The poll also found that 56% of Republicans supported legalization compared to 72% of Democrats.

Many Democratic activists believe they could have won the 2016 presidential election if they had more successfully engaged young voters, who tend to lean liberal. In the 2016 presidential election, about 66% of eligible voters aged 30 and above cast ballots, compared to just 50% of eligible voters aged 18-29, according to the nonpartisan Nonprofit VOTE and the U.S. Elections Project.

"We think this is the biggest opportunity to turn out people who otherwise don’t vote," Bernstein said. "This could be the thing that brings those people out, and makes non-voters into voters.”

Political analyst Kyle Kondik said while younger voters might potentially be more interested in a candidate with a strong legalization platform, the overall trend across the country favors legalization. The broad support for marijuana reform by all the candidates suggests that primary voters might be looking elsewhere for significant distinctions, Kondik said.

"It's not just something that's registered to me as something that's important to voters," said Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "It just hasn't happened yet, and it may never will."

For many activists, the conversation has swept past whether people should be allowed to smoke pot and is now more often focused on how hard the federal government should be working to mitigate the devastating impacts of the War on Drugs, which for generations has disproportionately hurt minority communities.

"Supporting legalization is no longer enough," said Queen Adesuyi, 25, the national affairs policy coordinator for Drug Policy Action, the political advocacy arm of the nonpartisan Drug Policy Alliance. "There's a large segment of the public that purely cares about marijuana. And then there's other people who come to the table principled by the concept that mass incarceration is destroying lives and destroying communities."

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Biden represent the two extremes of the party's approach to marijuana. While Buttigieg on Aug. 23 called for decriminalizing all drugs, in addition to legalizing marijuana, Biden seeks to remove marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, and then let states decide whether to legalize it, in an expansion of the de facto Trump policy, which is to leave alone states with legal pot, while also moving toward greater research access. 

Biden's plan calls for expunging marijuana-related criminal records but stops short of using federal resources to help communities of color launch canna-businesses via what's known as social equity programs. In Illinois, for instance, which is the most recent state to legalize recreational marijuana, the state's system was specifically designed to help minorities open cannabis stores, establishing a new tax base and creating potentially thousands of new jobs.

Adesuyi, of Drug Policy Action, said Biden's reluctance to endorse full legalization is a legacy of his role in creating and funding the War on Drugs during his lengthy Senate career that began in 1973 and included stints as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Especially for young voters, she said, a candidate's attitude toward marijuana is a proxy for a wide array of issues, including social justice and criminal-justice reform.

That might hurt Biden's chances in the early March 2020 primaries that include large sections of the South, along with California.

"Biden has been unapologetic for where we are in this country over prohibition. He is so far behind the tide it's embarrassing," Adesuyi said. "What Biden is proposing is garbage. His position on this is intended to mitigate the fact that he is a drug warrior."

In comparison, Buttigieg has dubbed his efforts to link criminal justice reform and marijuana legalization the "Douglass Plan," which also includes sweeping changes to the educational, health care and economic development systems and aimed at lifting up African American communities. Buttigieg's plan is named after Frederick Douglass, the former slave who became a famous abolitionist and newspaper owner.

But Skyler McKinley, a Colorado-based Democratic political activist who helped write the state's first-in-the-nation marijuana rules, said he doesn't think Biden's stance will cost him large numbers of voters. That's because 11 states and Washington, D.C., have now legalized without federal interference, generally attributed to the power of the 10th Amendment, which grants states' rights.

“I don’t think this is a top issue for any voter, because under Obama and now Trump, states can experiment with legalization themselves," he said. "If you’re running for governor of a state, this can be a major thing. But running for president, you’re either in support of the 10th Amendment or you’re not.”

And because the first primaries and caucuses take place in Iowa and New Hampshire, which are traditionally more conservative, Biden's approach might boost him there, giving him momentum going into the later contests. 

Those kinds of calculations are the ones politicians are making every day, said Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader and South Dakota Democrat who recently joined the advisory board of Northern Swan Holdings, a multi-national cannabis company.

"I think that debate is only going to get louder and more pervasive as time goes on," said Daschle, who described himself as an "incrementalist" when it comes to marijuana legalization.

Daschle said politicians of his generation, such as Biden, generally favor a slower approach, like decriminalization and re-scheduling, along with criminal-justice reform.

He said Democratic candidates might be better served by talking more about the potential economic impacts of legalizing or rescheduling cannabis, from job creation to the impact on real estate prices and even the taxes marijuana businesses pay. That would be in addition to, not instead of, discussion of the social and criminal-justice issues, he said.

"There's enormous support for limited use of cannabis already, and I think there's there's little doubt that as younger generations take leadership roles in government and business and life, we're going to see a more rapidly evolving attitude on cannabis," Daschle said. "If you're just looking at the politics of this, what does this do in the general election? Well, you may win over this angry young activist, and then you can't win over the people who are not willing to go so far, so fast."

A study was recently released stating that chocolate cannabis edibles are difficult to accurately test for cannabinoid levels. This doesn’t surprise me, as it’s long been known that chocolate is a psychoactive substance by itself. It clearly is a stimulant due to the caffeine in the cocoa seeds. Plus, it also contains that bit of bliss that prompted a scientist to bestow the Greek name theobroma on the active ingredient, literally meaning “food of the gods.” When mixed with entheogenic substances, such as magic mushrooms, you are guaranteed to come on faster to the experience.

No doubt then it has a similar effect when made into cannabis edibles. While I guess that makes it difficult to test properly, I actually enjoy that quality. In fact, if you can hold back from gobbling it down, and let the cannabis chocolate melt in your mouth slowly, where it will be quickly and thoroughly absorbed by the soft mucous membranes, you may find the effects come on faster and with a very smooth ascent.

Due to a recent diagnosis of moderate COPD, I have had to stop smoking joints for the past several months. I plan to start vaping soon, but felt it wise to have a considerable amount of time to completely hold back from inhaling anything. Tinctures just don’t do it for me for any length of time, although I can appreciate their medicinal qualities when required. At bedtime, I will take a tiny bit of full spectrum cannabis oil, which is quite strong and lulls me to sleep, while it does its magic healing all night long. But what about the rest of the day?

And so, I have been perfecting the art of edible eating. Everyone has their favorites no doubt, but here’s what I find I like the best. Granted, bear in mind, I do have a high tolerance!

Organic dark chocolate bars remain my go-to much of the time. I do enjoy the Satori chocolate covered almonds, but honestly, if I grow organic cannabis flowers to smoke I also want to eat organic cannabis mixed with organic ingredients when possible. There are a handful of organic chocolate edibles available, my fave being Revive dark chocolate bars made in northern California. The effect is a pure experience that can be easily titrated once you do understand the unique characteristics of chocolate. Plus, dark chocolate is probably the healthiest way to consume sugar.

I never could understand edibles that are big, delicious and deadly. An irresistibly yummy 400 mg THC cannabis cupcake,for example, is never a good idea. Who can only eat a small bite? And to ingest the whole thing would be trouble for sure. On the other hand, I get it why companies are now making 1 and 2 mg gummies and lozenges for newcomers to experiment with tolerance levels but for me, I would have to eat so many the sugar would be overwhelming!

My other personal pick would be the Atlas Edibles granola chunks, which are sweetened organically and spiced just right. There are three flavors on the market in California: sativa, indica and hybrid. While I try to avoid those simplistic terms when explaining cannabis highs (the terpenes are so much more accurate), it is a helpful way to know what to expect. The sativa variety, with a hint of cayenne in it, is perfect as an afternoon boost of creative energy.

Some of the savory edibles are also quite tasty, but honestly not my preference. I recall opening a bag of cannabis-laced spicy cashew nuts once, which were salty and delicious and the high was wonderful. However, the next evening I thought I’d repeat the experience and finished off the bag. It ate just about the same sized portion as the day before, but being the bottom of the bag, more spices had settled there, meaning it was a much stronger dose. When they came on, about a half an hour later, all I could do was crawl to my bedroom. Believe me, I never tried that again. Back to the chocolate it was, as it can be more uniformly blended.

I was recently at a cannabis event in Europe and a lovey young Italian sister and brother had a booth there. I’d chatted a bit with them the first day, and then saw them again the next morning as I was eating breakfast. Recognizing that I obviously have had many years of cannabis experimentation under my belt, they came rushing over, giggling with huge smiles on their faces. “What do we do? We split this brownie and have been awake all night, higher than ever before. We can’t stop laughing and crying!” The girl’s huge blue eyes were indeed like saucers and her brother had a wide grin, but you could tell they both were also exhausted. “How are we going to run our booth today and talk to people?” they wondered.

So I found a waiter and got them some peppercorns to chew on and as expected, practically instantly they were back to earth.“Grazie!” they said later in the day.

That seems to be how we all learn about edibles at least once, by gobbling down too much. They are to be respected and experimented with until you get your personal dosage figured out. Another trick to help return to your body if you eat too much is to drop some high-CBD tinctures in your mouth and swish it vigorously around with a bit of water if necessary. The CBD can counteract the high THC effects.

I lived in India for several years, and while they may make some of the best hashish on the planet, it generally is made from what we’d regard as inferior cannabis. Considering they cultivate it for the seeds as well as what they turn into hash, the flowers are not the focus. Grown with seeds, male and female plants together, they will never produce the powerful sensimillia we have grown to appreciate in the western world. The same truth applied to the funky weed from south of the border that I grew up on back in the 60s and 70s. When smoked, it vaguely got you high, but when I cooked with it I quickly discovered it packed a punch!

I enjoyed making homemade edibles in India for my friends and it always surprised them how high they got. But it was always a guessing game on dosage. We are blessed today to have legally-tested cannabis edibles with precise directions about dosing on the packaging so no one has to experience the heavy effects of eating too much. But if you do, don’t forget to have some peppercorns or high CBD tinctures on hand!