4 Purveyors of Surprisingly Delicious Marijuana-Infused Edibles

As laws around the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana begin to open up in the United States, the industry around cannabis is growing as if grow lights were shining on it. The legal market for marijuana in the United States hit $2.7 billion last year, according to ArcView Group—that’s an increase of 74 percent from 2013.

Medibles, or marijuana-infused foods, are just one sector of the legal marijuana industry, but they’re a significant one. Some people who use marijuana for medicinal reasons prefer medibles, from whole foods to tinctures and oils, because they allow them to avoid smoke. Medibles like gummies and mints can also provide a degree of discretion that a joint or vaporizer doesn’t. And for recreational uses—and recreational use of marijuana is currently legal in Colorado and Washington—medibles are just another option, one that is sometimes legitimately delicious.

Regulation hasn’t necessarily kept up with the sector’s growth. The disconnect between state and federal laws keeps the medibles industry as a wild west of sorts—for example, a 2011 bill in Washington state that would have regulated medibles was vetoed by the governor after passing in the state legislature because of fears that mandatory site inspections would put state employees in federal jeopardy. That is because regardless of how the laws change state by state, whether it relates to medical use of marijuana or recreational, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the feds.

Some medibles manufacturers are taking the issue into their own hands by doing their own testing for everything from contamination to potency. They’re also devising labelling standards and working to be able to advertise their products as safe, consistent, and appealing. Here are four medibles companies with particularly interesting—even sophisticated—offerings.

Ettalew’s Medibles

At first glance, this website looks like it belongs to a quirky bakery—the regular kind, not the medicinal kind. Cannabis or not, all of the offerings from Ettalew’s Medibles look legitimately delicious: brownies with peanut butter and white and milk chocolate chips, red velvet mini cupcakes, and party mix are among them. Along with their medicated line, this Seattle company also offers unmedicated treats, including gluten-free options.