There is a sucker born every minute. With the marijuana industry almost a wild west of regulations and laws, it was only a matter of time before professional schemers started to apply that adage to weed. This is the case for a certain Christopher Wright and his "Grow and Grow Rich" program. It is branded as a get-rich-quick scheme based on learning how to grow and sell marijuana. ABC 5 News in Boston interviewed the "students" of this program and found out how , instead of getting rich, they got taken for a ride.
Photo Source: pixabay.com
Many people who bought into Wright's program invested up to $40,000, entire retirement savings in some cases. The program promised business training and network connections. However, the program left students with no knowledge of how to properly network nor how to integrate successfully into the marijuana industry. They were promised contacts from Wright's inner circle. According to one student, she did not even get one contact. "It's definitely a betrayal," claimed one alleged victim, "to have someone come in and promise you all of that and to be so nonchalant about walking away from it all".
Schemes like this are hardly anything new. The only difference is the product. Beyond the product is the business side, so make sure your business is set up for success with a good website landing page. An easy way to do this is to use Medical Marijuana website templates. What this story illustrates is how marijuana is becoming more and more legitimized. Once you can have open seminars in broad daylight all about how to grow and sell marijuana, a plant that is still federally illegal, just goes to show how its acceptance by ordinary people (i.e. not potheads) has accelerated throughout this country. Inline with that notion are recent polls from the Pew Research Center, which have found that 62% of Americans favor legalization. Furthermore, only three states, Idaho, Kansas and South Dakota, along with the Federal Government, have no legal program for marijuana (medicinal or otherwise).
Photo Source: pixabay.com
This particular scheme is not the only one to use the burgeoning weed market for ill-gotten gains. The law firm of Harris Bricken put up on their website at least six types of scams that exist now in the marijuana business. Penny stocks, business franchising, and "crowdfunding" are just a few of the ways people can get all wrapped up in this new business venture only to end up being taken advantage and pennyless.
Yet all is not lost for the alleged victims of the "Grow and Grow Rich" program. Some victims stand outside of seminar rooms trying to warn others what "lies" ahead. Helping prevent others from falling for the same scheme is a little bit of retribution for them. And when the news team from ABC 5 showed up to one of the seminars the speakers had vanished, as if, up in smoke. See the video below for more details.
Video Source: YouTube.com
Sources: WCVB Channel 5 Boston, Pew Research Center - FactTank, CannabisBusinessNews.com, Cannalawblog.com