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In this installment of ASA Partner Spotlight, we feature Tetragram, a company building the foundation for integrating cannabis into healthcare.

Tetragram was founded in 2017 by medical cannabis patients with a mission to build the tools needed to integrate cannabis into U.S. healthcare systems. Since then, the company has developed technology that helps patients document their experiences with cannabis products to improve their health outcomes while also generating real-world data to guide research and clinical understanding. Their App is being used in clinical trials to monitor participants and by governments for healthcare reimbursements. 

Meet the Patients Behind the Vision

For CEO Otha Smith III and CTO Julius Moore, building Tetragram has been shaped by their personal experiences with cannabis medicines.

After surviving a serious car accident and undergoing treatment for pain that led to opioid dependency, Otha turned to cannabis to manage his symptoms. Like many patients, he found his first visit to a dispensary overwhelming. Finding relief took time, experimentation, and persistence. That experience helped shape the vision for Tetragram: a tool that could make it easier for patients to track what works, avoid unnecessary guesswork, and make better-informed decisions about their care.

For Julius, chronic illness and degenerative disorders have been part of life since birth. Over time, he came to recognize that cannabis could provide many of the same benefits as pharmaceuticals, but without some of the downsides. That realization led him to discuss medical cannabis with family members and close friends. Through Tetragram, he hopes to help patients and caregivers better understand how cannabis works for them and for others with similar health needs.

Filling Gaps to Improve Patient Outcomes

Cannabis affects each person differently, even among individuals with the same medical conditions, and identifying the right product, delivery method, and dose can be frustrating and expensive. Finding the right regimen requires a period of trial and error, but remembering product names, cannabinoid and terpene profiles, dosages, and methods of administration while also maintaining consistent relief can be overwhelming for many patients.

The Tetragram app supports a more informed approach to cannabis therapeutics, helping patients document their experiences over time.  It also contributes to the growing body of real-world evidence needed to strengthen research, improve clinical understanding, and support better patient outcomes.

The Tetragram App: built for patients, by patients

The Tetragram app is HIPAA-compliant and designed to help individuals document their health goals, track symptom relief, and identify which products, combinations, delivery methods, and dosing amounts work best for them. Patients can also use the app to share their experiences with healthcare providers, helping to create a stronger foundation for informed care.

The app is available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Whether someone is new to cannabis or has been using it therapeutically for years, finding the right product can still be overwhelming. Dispensaries often offer a wide range of options, and because cannabis does not affect everyone the same way, there is no universal formula for relief. Limited U.S. research has only added to the confusion.

Tetragram gives patients a practical way to track their experiences and better understand what works for their personal needs. It also allows users to draw from broader community insights and discover what has worked for others with similar health goals.

Most recently, Tetragram completed a pilot with the state of Colorado to provide technical assistance in processing workers’ compensation reimbursements for medical cannabis patients. The project was documented in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Tetragram Advocacy

Tetragram supports ASA because its leadership shares a long-term vision for medical cannabis in the United States: one in which cannabis is fully integrated into healthcare and supported by policy that reflects its therapeutic value. That means not only protecting patients, but also building the systems needed for reimbursement, research, care coordination, and long-term access.

That alignment has made Tetragram a strong partner in ASA’s work. Otha Smith III is one of the founding members of Cannabis Businesses & Professionals United for National Medical Cannabis (UNMC), an ASA Action Group that brings together business leaders, professionals, and investors who believe in the power of cannabis therapeutics and the need to finish what patients started by building a national medical framework.

Looking Ahead

Tetragram will continue working with states to expand workers’ compensation reimbursement systems, with researchers to improve patient monitoring in clinical trials, and with patients to improve experiences with cannabis medicines. This work is helping build the systems and evidence needed to support future insurance coverage and prescribing pathways for whole-plant cannabis medicines under a national medical cannabis program. As a minority- and patient-founded company, Tetragram is helping to ensure that the future of cannabis research and healthcare integration is informed by patients' needs and experiences.

ASA Partners

ASA’s mission requires a new approach to medicine in the United States. ASA is honored to partner with organizations like Tetragram that bring expertise and innovation to efforts to advance safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. By developing tools that support patient tracking, real-world data collection, clinical research, and reimbursement systems, Tetragram is helping build the foundation for integrating cannabis medicines into healthcare.

ASA’s work is strengthened by a growing network of partners who share a commitment to patient access, product safety, healthcare integration, and meaningful federal reform.

Learn more about ASA partners and sponsors.

Download the Free Tetragram app now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Contact Tetragram: https://tetragramapp.com/aboutheapp/

To learn more about the Colorado workers’ compensation pilot program, join ASA’s May 16 webinar, Medical Cannabis & Workers’ Compensation Coverage: A Path for Medicaid? with Otha Smith III.