Fideles Vendentes – Outliers by County

As promised in my post Fidelis Cannabis earlier this week, I am providing a list of some retailers from around the state that do either a relatively high proportion of their wholesale transactions with Fidelis suppliers or a relatively low proportion of their wholesale transactions with Fidelis suppliers.  Recall that Fidelis suppliers are those growers and/or processors that tend to use labs to test their products for potency (cannabinoids) and quality (safety) with labs that I have come to prefer and whose results I tend to trust.

Those retailers displaying an apparent (relative) preference for wholesalers of the type found on the Fidelis Cannabis list are retailers that I will refer to as Fidelis Retailers.  These are Retailers that share, by definition, the quality of Fidelicity.  I have not bothered to assign a name to the listed retailers that fall on the other end of the “Fidelis” transaction distribution.  Their defining characteristic, for purposes of this post — and their inclusion on the list below — is that they have a greater tendency to do business with wholesalers that get their testing done with labs that I do not prefer.  They seem, in comparison, to be lacking in Fidelicity.

Here is the distribution of stores across the levels of “Fidelicity” (% of transactions done in 2020 that involved a supplier that fits my definition of producing Fidelis Cannabis — cannabis tested by a lab that I prefer (and whose results I tend to trust).

If one were to pick a product randomly from the shelves of a Fidelis Retailer, it would have a better chance of having been tested by a lab that I prefer than if one were to pick a product from one of the other retailers listed here today.   I’m not absolutely certain that means anything of significance to the consumer, but it is my very strong opinion that it does and, also, that it should.

Starting with my work in 2015, there have been multiple demonstrations of differences in lab reporting that showed some labs reporting higher cannabinoid levels and/or reporting lower Quality Assurance failure rates than their peers.  I once called such labs “Friendly”.  I now call them nothing other than obstacles to wholesalers being assigned my “Fidelis” label.

I have not been compensated for this work in any way — other than through the appreciation expressed for it by people who truly care about what they put into (and onto) their bodies.  My opinions regarding the certified cannabis testing labs of this state and my resulting preference for a large subset of them is largely informed by analytic work that I and others have done over the past 5 years.  A good deal of that work is available here on HI-Blog.  Some has been published elsewhere.  Some of it has not been published at all —yet. 

The Fidelis Cannabis list I published a few days ago reveals to anyone that cares many wholesalers that tend to use labs that I prefer.  The list of stores published today allows anyone that cares to identify outliers in each county (when they exist in a given county) that either do an unusually high proportion of their business with Fidelis wholesalers (those that use labs that I prefer) or an unusually high proportion of their business with wholesalers that use other labs to test their product and to inform their product labels. 

Were I to consider shopping in regulated retail cannabis stores, I would tend to go to the Fidelis stores (the ones toward the right of the curve rather than the others).  Were I to be advising friends, family, patients or anyone that I like where they might best consider doing their cannabis shopping, I would point them in the direction of the Fidelis stores.

Today, I am advising you of nothing with respect to your shopping behavior.  I am, however, sharing with you some preferences that I think hold some relevance for anyone that cares about what they put into (or onto) their bodies.

The following list identifies 141 retailers – 67 of them are Fidelis Retailers, in that they tend to do business with wholesalers using labs I trust and 74 of them are retailers that tend to do business with wholesalers using other labs.  This is not an all-or-none world, for the most part.  The vast majority of retailers purchase product from both Fidelis suppliers and from others.  It is a world, however, of variable apparent preferences.

The other 330-odd retailers not listed today fall into the middle of the Fidelicity curve and do not appear to be displaying a large preference for (or against) suppliers that use labs that I trust.  Whenever shopping for cannabis, it is wise for the consumer to ask to see the CoA (Certificate of Analysis) associated with the product being considered.  If the store can’t produce it, I would advise you to shop elsewhere. (I know for a fact that some of those on the Fidelis list are quite capable of producing a CoA on demand and of doing so in less than 2 minutes.  I’d be willing to bet that more on the Fidelis list are able to do so than on the other stores listed here today.  Aside from my very limited personal observations, though, that is purely speculation on my part.)

I categorized retailers on a county by county basis, given some of the geographic variability in lab preference that exists.  I did this because, for example, wholesalers in Whatcom county can either choose a lab close to home or one of many that are at least a couple of counties away.   The lab in Whatcom is not one of the ones I prefer.  Given that it’s the closest and presumably most convenient lab for many up there, it’s fairly easy to envision that the use of labs that I prefer by the wholesalers in Whatcom county will be lower than it would likely be if the local lab were one that I did prefer.  Local stores are, likely, differentially supporting local producers, so the overall average Felicity score for the area is very likely lower than the state average.  That is why I did not use absolute thresholds for membership in either group of outliers.

My goal with this work was to ideally reveal a “top” and a “bottom” (with respect to Fidelicity) retailer for each county so that consumers that care can make a relatively local informed choice.   I was not always successful in that effort, as some counties did not have any stores even close to one (or both) of the tails of the Fidelicity distribution.

This list is a tool that is meant to help consumers concerned about what they put into (and onto) their bodies and those concerned that the regulated cannabis market in Washington state is not supplying the quality of product that they need. 

Please share widely with your cannabis consumer friends and anyone else you think might find this useful.  I don’t promote my stuff.  I let people that think it should be promoted do it for me.  I appreciate those of you that think my work worthy of sharing.

I also sincerely hope that at least some of the stores that do not already pay attention to this issue begin noting which labs their suppliers use.  This market can either continue to reward what it has, until now, been rewarding, or it can begin rewarding and supporting the types of wholesalers that use the types of labs that I trust.

Just so that I am very clear on this point:  This list is not another one of those commercial lists that contains more bullshit and glitz than it does useful substance.   Stores categorized as “+” are the ones in which you are most likely to find products produced by Fidelis suppliers. Stores categorized as DOH are currently (as of Feb., 2021) considered to be active Medical Cannabis access points by the state Department of Health. They can serve patients AS patients. They can enter patients into the DEA-tracking device called the Patient Registry. They sometimes don’t collect sales tax from patients.

I was paid not a penny to compile this list and I suspect that it’s publication will lead to the loss of significant future business for me.   That’s OK — I’ve never been overly fond of blood money.

This was created as a labor of love.   It is for you.  It is for the Patients so sadly neglected by the regulations and laws supposedly enacted to protect them.

It is also for the industry. 

Enjoy.

Please note that the listed retailers are sorted in descending order of “Fidelicity” within each county. Only about 30% of the active retailers in the state are listed here. Non-listed stores fall into the “middle of the pack” with respect to “Fidelicity”. If I were using this list, for example, I would tend to go to the “+” type Fidelis outliers were I inclined to shop in a regulated cannabis store. I have included alternate Tradenames where more than one popped up while I prepared the data for the analyses that led to the list.