A Black-owned startup in Prince George’s County: Tetragram helps cannabis users keep track of products

By KIRSTIN NICHOLS Otha Smith III has always aimed to live holistically. He eats a plant-based diet and runs three to four miles a day. After suffering a traumatic brain injury in a car crash 18 years ago, during his senior year at Bowie State University, Smith was prescribed a regimen of opioids and other prescription medications to manage his pain. But soon he ditched the prescriptions, which he considered dangerous, and decided to manage his pain with cannabis, a nontoxic alternative to the doctor’s prescriptions. The cannabis was an improvement but it was difficult for him to remember which strains and dosages had the desired effect on his pain without leaving him drossy. So he started to keep track of different products and the rate of effectiveness. Years later, when cannabis became legal in many states across the United States, including Maryland, Smith dove deeper into the medical benefits of cannabis. One thing he found is that there wasn’t much data that consumers could use to compare products and make informed buying decisions.  Even dispensaries selling cannabis and doctors who wanted to recommend specific products, didn’t have enough information to make recommendations. That’s when “I saw an opportunity,” Smith...