I came across this post while searching the latest news on Clone Queen and Weedmaps. The post is a comment which is a reply to an OC Times article praising Weedmaps and all they've done for the marijuana community (pardon me while I vomit).
Here is the article. Feel free to comment with your own Weedmaps experiences (the article does not mention Clone Queen, that is only in the comments because naturally, any talk about Weedmaps quickly turns to it's corrupt practices and you can't bring up that corruption with out mentioning Clone Queen).
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/first-weedmaps-took-over-californias-medical-marijuana-industry-now-its-going-global-7181073
There are good and bad things about Weedmaps growth and the spotlight on them. As they become more prominent they will draw more attention from federal law enforcement. Because Weedmaps make SO MUCH MONEY (so much) they will always draw attention from law enforcement. This would bother me if Weedmaps wasn't fraudulent. I sincerely do hope Weedmaps goes out of business. While I doubt that the individuals who use Weedmaps are at risk (teeny tiny fishes compared to the shark that is Weedmaps and the lil baby sharks that are illegally operating dispensaries) but there is always a chance of legal repercussions. Be careful. Be smart. There are plenty of alternatives to Weedmaps they just aren't as poplar. Support them. Leafly in particular is a good resource AND they pulled Clone Queen when they received emails regarding their illegal practices.
I can not verify everything in this post, I don't know who posted it but I have reached out to them (they could very well be one of the individuals who emails me Clone Queen info (thanks again guys, you keep me going))). I also don't have much of an opinion on AUMA. I'm just not very active in the marijuana community anymore outside of this blog so I don't know much about it and I also don't live in CA anymore so I just don't notice these things as much.
My notes are in bold -
"Great article Mary (Author of OC post). I appreciate that you give both sides of the WeedMaps story. More and more cannabis activists, patients, and collective owners are becoming acutely aware of the evil monopolizing presence that WeedMaps is. WeedMaps is a complete cesspool of illegally run unlicensed collectives that are given free run to write their own reviews while deleting any negative reviews written by patients who were scammed or ripped off by the collectives advertising on WeedMaps. I personally spoke with WeedMaps president and chief council Chris Beals (I can't verify anything about this conversation) (yes, this guy is a lawyer) on the phone about one of the most notorious scam collectives in California: Clone Queen Genetics. Clone Queen Genetics is run by a convicted felon whose business license was suspended by the California Secretary of States office on November 1, 2013. Clone Queen is explicitly banned from doing business in California, yet WeedMaps continues to sell them listings in 7 different California cities. When I personally spoke to Chris Beals about this, he launched into a whole slew of complete bullshit excuses about why WeedMaps couldn't do anything about it. "We're just an advertising platform" Chris would say. "We don't have the manpower to police all of our listings". Im guessing that's due to WeedMaps staff being medicated on the job (and apparently drunk too with "Wine and Weed Wednesdays"). This could also explain why WeedMaps has the buggiest most useless app available. Yes, this multi million dollar company can not even put a workable app together and that has been the case for years. As chief council for WeedMaps, I was shocked at how shady and shifty Chris Beals is. Chris Beals and WeedMaps could care less if patients are getting ripped off or scammed by illegal collectives. I asked Chris specifically, if he knew that a collective was explicitly banned from doing business in the state of California, would he still accept advertising money from this collective. His answer was no. I then asked Chris if he would take 30 seconds out of his day to go to the California Secretary of states website to verify that Clone Queen is banned from doing business in California (this is all public information that anyone can easily access) and he wouldn't do it! I remember his excuse: "I don't have my phone on me". Why won't Chris Beals and WeedMaps act when confronted about illegal activities on their website? That's because Chris Beals and WeedMaps make a truck load of cash on a daily basis off of these scam collectives. And they take this cash and put it into horrible legalization initiatives like AUMA. AUMA is written to specifically monopolize the California Cannabis Industry for big money interests. The bill is written horribly and will completely wipe out the California Cannabis industry as we know it, and put it in the hands of big money corporate interests. It calls for jail sentences for anyone under 21 using Cannabis. Yes, if you are between the ages of 18 to 21, WeedMaps thinks you should be in jail for using Cannabis. Its written into this horrible legislation that WeedMaps supports. Weed Maps supports heavy taxation of Cannabis. 15% tax on top of state and local taxes. Are you ready to pay $75 for your legal eighth of cannabis (Again, I don't know much about AUMA and it's pros and cons)? Me neither! One other thing about WeedMaps I'd like to discuss is their horrendously shady review system. The vast majority of Collectives on WeedMaps write their own reviews. The patterns of abuse are so obvious they can't be denied. You constantly see things like a single username posting 20 or 30 five star review in a row for the same collective. This abuse is widespread on WeedMaps, and WeedMaps turns a complete blind eye to this, all in the name of profits. And on top of that, WeedMaps is notorious for taking down legitimate negative reviews written exactly to WeedMaps terms of service, just because the "paying advertisers" aka dispensaries didn't like them. The WeedMaps review system is corrupt, shady, illegal and easily gamed by the collectives. EASILY! Just research the term "Boycott WeedMaps" on the internet and you'll find a lot of stories from folks that will back up everything I say. WeedMaps is the single worst thing to happen to the Medical Cannabis movement and to cannabis legalization (YES YES YES!!!). WeedMaps is a shady, company with a shady past. Now they are trying to enact horrible legislation that will only help them and their cronies put a decades long stranglehold on the Cannabis Industry for their own profits. Please vote NO on big moneys takeover of the California Cannabis Industry. Vote NO on AUMA. BOYCOTT WEEDMAPS. Lets send these bloodsucking parasites back under the rocks that they crawled from. For more information on the largest scam collective in California, please see:www.thetruthaboutclonequeen.blogspot.com (thank you for linking me). One last thing, all it took for LEAFLY to ban Clone Queen was one e-mail. ONE. The only thing keeping this scam collective in business ripping off medical patients is WeedMaps aka GREEDMAPS."
