To Grow Or Not To Grow..

[Sgrowdum]

Recently i was approached by a good friend to team up and run a grow for him. This gentleman relocated from our non friendly state to California to start growing to supply his customers back home. This was about 6 years ago. Currently this gentleman has two grow sites. Both outdoors and one is completely illegal. The other is close to Chico and is said to be "100% legal" I have been reading up on local laws and there seems to be a lot of grey area surrounding what you can and cant do around chico. This "legal" site is said to be 15 acres with 66 plants. I have been promised a percentage of the profits or dry weight (haven't worked out details) And been assured it is a legitimate business not operating illegally.

Now to my concerns.. The more i read about butte county laws the more i see the holes in these statements. I'm not a lawyer so i could be wrong but can you even have an outdoor grow that large?

From my research the legal market is FLOODED. Is that the actual case or are people just trying to run off the wave? I've read and talked to people who are sitting on lbs after lbs of stuff dispensaries arent buying. With that said who out there is actually complying and supplying he legal market and making good money doing so? It is to my understanding that a HUGE amount of "overstock" just finds its way into the black market. which brings me to my next question.

In the event that my business partner (property, licensing etc. under his name) decides to take overage and sell it on the black market, He gets caught doing so and leads authorities back to the property. If i had no involvement in that portion of the business (just the caretaker of the property and plants prior to chop) would i likely be arrested in the "sting"? In my home state i have two prior charges (not convictions rather deferred adjudication) for felony possessions of marijuana. The first one was for 1lb and the next nearly 30. With that said, i have a small child and wife these days and have ZERO plans of spending the rest of my life behind bars.

I like to consider my self a true lover of the plant. I'm very good at cultivating and truly enjoy it. What i'm being offered is what i would consider my dream job i live in a state where a gram gets you jail time... The thought of being able to grow Herb on a large scale for a living is surreal. I want nothing more than to take this gig, Move my family out to California and enjoy everything that it brings. However i'm not willing to risk my freedom over it.

If anyone out there has anything constructive to share regarding the topics please do so. I'm weeks away from having to make a decision.

-Thanks

 

[One drop]

If you have any doubts at all I would walk away if it's not 100% water tight legitimate and in my opinion work alone again just my opinion mate .

 

[tinderthumbs]

if it sounds to good to be true it just might b

could u call the law in the place and ask them about it???

 

[xenon730]

yo there are very few that don't put their product on the black market. how well can you trust this guy? does he talk about money and how good it is often? if so, he's probably moving product in the black market. I think it would be wiser for you to just try to do this on your own so there's 0 liability with legality, security, and ethics. if this is your dream job, why don't you pursue it yourself? A lot of hydro store owners provide for people, why can't you?

I'm the paranoid type though who doesn't let anyone know anything, even my closest friends(only wife and moms know) so I might just be uptight but there is HUGE risks when bringing in a partner and it doesn't sound to me like you two are on the same page what with your requirements for stringent legal cooperation. Of the growers I know for medical, you'd be hardpressed to find many that strictly adhere to plant counts and don't put at least SOME product onto the black market. If I were you, I wouldn't take the deal. This is something that needs to be done with you as the primary supporter and controller. It's just too risky otherwise.

 

[Sgrowdum]

Thanks for the comments. I know the guy well. We use to "work together" before i was busted. I stopped and he expanded. I know he is putting the product on the black market, Im smoking it right now. My real question is if i choose to stay away from that portion of the business would i be subject to the same nonsense if the walls came crashing down.

The more i talk to people the more i realize what was said earlier (few growers are actually 100% legit) it seems to be the norm and excepted to push it out into the black market. With the super lax California laws and my priors being in a different state im considering being ok with it. Its looking like it would take a large federal case in order for that "3rd strike" to take effect on me.

I like the idea of setting my own thing up. A- If i decided to go fully legal i wouldn't have anything to worry about and B if i decided to allow some of it to move into the black market i would be far removed from the non sense. I mean at the end of the day if he was caught up they wouldn't come looking for my measly 10 a month. Id think they would be more concerned with his large scale operations. Just trying to weight risk vs reward here.

 

[xenon730]

Thanks for the comments. I know the guy well. We use to "work together" before i was busted. I stopped and he expanded. I know he is putting the product on the black market there is no doubt about that in my mind. My real question is if i choose to stay away from that portion of the business would i be subject to the same nonsense if the walls cam crashing down.

The more i talk to people the more i realize what was said earlier (few growers are actually 100% legit) it seems to be the norm and "excepted" to push it out into the black market. With the super lax California laws and my priors being in a different state im considering being ok with it. Its looking like it would take a large federal case in order for that "3rd strike"

I like the idea of setting my own thing up. A- If i decided to go fully legal i wouldn't have anything to worry about and B if i decided to allow some of it to move into the black market i would be far removed from the non sense. I mean at the end of the day if he was caught up they wouldn't come looking for my measly 10 a month. id think they would be more concerned with his large scale operations. Just trying to weight risk vs reward here.

you would be just as culpable legally as any cartel/partnership that produces and illegally sells scheduled substances. you grow it, he sells it is equal culpability in court without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[Sgrowdum]

you would be just as culpable legally as any cartel/partnership that produces and illegally sells scheduled substances. you grow it, he sells it is equal culpability in court without a shadow of a doubt.

I wouldn't doubt that at all

 

[Douglas.C]

Use a search engine like google to search the forums for "working with a partner" and start reading the horror stories. Unless you're walking into a contracted position, which you can sue for it being broken, it's a good probability you'll get screwed.

I, personally, wouldn't touch an illegal grow with a 150 yard pole. I have a family who would be greatly put out if I ended up in prison. You're also correct to be wary of what they're telling you and having them admit to both a legal and illegal grow was good for you. They get busted with the illegal grow, their legal one is toast.

 

[FooDoo]

the law is a weird thing. for example, if someones friend says hes mad at a person and asks you for a ride to go confront them, and that confrontation ends in murder, you to could be charged with murder.

id stay away if you care about your child. if you were 18 and fearless with nothing to lose, then thats a different story