After spending 30 years behind bars, Richard Wershe, a.k.a. “White Boy Rick,” returns to launch a weed company after his traumatic experience as a teenager.

Wershe was a drug informant for the FBI and received a life sentence for cocaine possession at 17 back in 1988. The youngest known FBI informant in U.S. history, Wershe was persuaded to get involved with drug trafficking on Detroit’s east side. “I never saw a drug in my life,” Wershe told VICE World news in a recent interview.

“I took money that they gave me to buy drugs; I then took those drugs and sold them. They taught me to be a drug dealer, and I became a drug dealer.” After his arrest, Wershe couldn’t believe the atrocities before his eyes, as conniving authorities would later abandon him to cover that he was their drug informant.

In 2020, Wershe was released from prison on good behavior. Fast forward a year later, he is now embarking on a new cannabis company called “The 8th,” a tribute to an eighth of weed and the eighth amendment, “protecting Americans against cruel and unusual punishments.”
“The 8th” will launch this fall with weed accessories, merch, and more.

After leaving prison and finding out that cannabis was legal in many states, he was “delightfully surprised” and embarked on his new venture in the cannabis industry. With partial process going to people wrongfully or excessively criminalized for drug crimes, Wershe also mentioned that he believes the government has “no business telling adults what they can and can’t consume.”

Various films and television shows have highlighted the experiences of Wershe’s tumultuous story. Eminem is expected to play Wershe in a cameo role in the Starz series BMF, surrounding Detroit’s mafia origins with executive producer 50 Cent.

A previous 2018 film entitled “White Boy Rick” starring Matthew McConaughey saw $25 million at the box office. More recently, Wershe has been working on a documentary surrounding his life entitled “The Long Road Home.”