I’ve been using cannabis medicinally and recreationally for decades. I’ve tried almost every method to deliver THC and CBD to mind and body. I’ve smoked joints, puffed on pipes, eaten hash brownies, enjoyed gummies and bonged my way to heavenly highs. 

There’s always a new delivery system. I’m a sucker for new products. So when I heard about the Protab pills from LEVEL Experience, a company based in Santa Rosa—a city that can roll out the red carpet for cannabis companies—I climbed aboard the pill wagon. 

Three products arrived at my front door: “Lights Out” meant for “maximum relaxation,” “Boost” provides “energy and helps focus,” and “Recover” is designed for “relief and may help ease pain.” 

Each packet had 10 tablets, each one about the size of a low-dose aspirin. I started out with a whole “Lights Out” and woke up with an marijuana hangover the next morning. The next evening, using two fingers, I broke a pill in half and swallowed it with water. Half was still too much. I learned that a quarter guaranteed a sound night’s sleep. 

I also tried both the Boost and the Recover—a quarter of each one was the right dosage for me. When I talked to LEVEL’s founder and CEO, Chris Emerson, I wasn’t surprised when he urged me “to go low and to go slow.” Those seven words are the best words I’ve ever heard about the consumption of cannabis. 

Others, in addition to Emerson, have offered these words of advice. All dispensaries ought to carry a sign that reads, “Go Low, Go Slow.” Though those words might discourage consumers from stocking up on cannabis products, which is what happened at the height of the pandemic. I felt good about Protab after my conversation with Emerson, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford and who served in the military. He knows about molecules and stress and how to reduce it. He also worked in Big Pharma until he realized it wasn’t for him. Pills have worked for Emerson. They’d better. “I can’t roll a joint to save my life,” he told me. “A pill is easier.”—J.R.

Listen, there are edibles galore these days, and this isn’t a plug on which ones to get. It’s a plug on which ones to get and where to get them: Orchard Peach Camino Sours or Plus Strains Granddaddy Purple gummies from Mercy Wellness. 

A sweet and informed time, my first trip to Mercy involved very nearly becoming best friends with the individual who checked my ID before heading into the main room to get a well-informed and anecdote-sprinkled walkthrough of the various different products and their uses. Who doesn’t want to hear the story of the time someone’s sister misread the dose and ate three instead of one? While checking out, I was elated to a) hear “SexyBack” issuing from the speakers, b) dance animatedly, if surreptitiously, and yes, it can be done, and c) look up to see my checker-outter dancing with no less enthusiasm, at which point we dropped all surreptitiousness and openly expressed our appreciation for the timeless track. I’ll also say she had the best head of hair I’ve ever seen. Mercy.—JV