At a glance
LEVEL is a science-led cannabis tablet company founded in 2015 by chemist Chris Emerson, PhD, through parent company Metta Medical. Co-owner and COO Brie Emerson leads operations. The brand replaces conventional strain-led merchandising with cannabinoid formulations delivered as swallowable or sublingual tablets, including Protab, Hashtab, Rosintab and Tablingual families.
Founder and scientific background
Chris Emerson is LEVEL’s founder, CEO and chief scientist. Official biographies describe his doctorate in small-molecule chemistry, Stanford postdoctoral work and earlier U.S. Navy service. Brie Emerson is identified as co-owner and COO. The company’s history frames LEVEL as the alternative Chris pursued instead of a conventional pharmaceutical career.
Metta Medical and intellectual property
LEVEL operates as Metta Medical Inc. Chris Emerson’s current official technical biography identifies U.S. patents 11,596,606 B2 and 12,076,442 B1 for activated-cannabinoid controlled-release formulation technology. Patent ownership and claims should be read from the patents themselves; the relevant point for the brand profile is that the tablet platform has documented intellectual-property protection.
Product families
The current regulated-cannabis catalog includes LEVEL 5 and LEVEL 10 tablets, Protab, Protab+, Protab Max, higher-strength Protab variants, Hashtab, Hashtab 100 and Rosintab. Hashtab uses cold-water hash and Rosintab uses live rosin. The company also sells hemp-derived Tablingual products through a separate e-commerce channel, which must not be conflated with state-regulated THC inventory.
Cannabinoid formulation strategy
LEVEL works with THC and less-common cannabinoids including CBG, CBN, THCA and THCV, arranging products around named use occasions and formulation ratios rather than flower strains. Its older catalog includes effect labels such as Energize, Create, Socialize, Relief, Calm and Sleep. Those are manufacturer product names and intended positioning, not guaranteed medical outcomes.
Seven-state expansion
A 2024 company update said LEVEL expanded to seven states: California, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Market participation can depend on local licensees and manufacturing partners, so exact products and legal operators vary by state. California remains the company’s original and most documented market.
Licensing and California footprint
California records connect Metta Medical and Chris Emerson to a distribution license first approved in 2020. LEVEL’s site also publishes manufacturing license DCC-10004472. An investor update reported annual placement in more than 700 California retail doors, but that number is company-reported and time-bounded rather than a permanent store count.
Sales leadership and recognition
LEVEL reported that BDSA Retail Sales Tracking ranked it California’s number-one pill brand by dollar sales for January through November 2021; it also cited Headset for a U.S. number-one capsule/pill position. Those are measured sales rankings, not product-quality awards. The company’s 2024 investor update later claimed 48 percent share within its tablet subcategory and 33 percent of the broader pills category.
Research and claim boundaries
The company publishes educational material and describes human research, but this profile does not translate branded effect language into treatment advice. Tablet quantity, cannabinoid strength and onset language should be checked on the package in the applicable state. LEVEL’s regulated cannabis products and federally compliant hemp products also have different legal channels.
Source and provenance notes. This profile uses LEVEL’s official history, product catalog, state-expansion notice, sales-ranking disclosure, current founder biography and 2024 investor update. Founding roles and technical claims come from company sources; rankings retain their stated dataset and period. No unrelated “Level” cannabis or wellness company is merged into this record.