Frog Poison Origin Story: How Toad Venom Escaped

Before Frog Poison spread through California, Toad Venom passed through an Oklahoma partnership, a disputed genetics transfer, a deliberate clone switch and a recovery mission through Colorado.

The Oklahoma Connection

Around 2021, Toad Venom entered the orbit of Connoisseur Cannabis in Tulsa, an Oklahoma cultivation project involving Jake of Ronin/West Coast Connoisseur and an owner referred to as J (Jeremy).

Jake says West Coast Alchemy, Water Boyz and Kush Klinik whom he and J brought in, contributed money in exchange for equity in the company. Under his account, however, company ownership and genetic ownership were separate.

He says West Coast Connoisseur retained ownership of the genetics brought into the project and licensed them to Connoisseur Cannabis for cultivation and commercial use in Tulsa. In his view, equity in the company did not automatically grant the right to remove, sell or distribute those genetics.

That distinction would later become the center of the dispute.

The Toad Venom Genetics

Toad Venom traces back to an Animal Face × SinMintz selection associated with Derrick and Green Dragon who selected the cut.

The selected plant was known as Becky before Jake and the West Coast Connoisseur/Ronin circle further developed and released it as Toad Venom. Jake places that work around late 2020.

Once the plant entered the Oklahoma project, a larger group helped shape its commercial identity.

Jake credits Hash Tribe, Kush Klinik, the firm, West Coast Alchemy, Water Boyz and others with helping cultivate, process, package and market the material. The genetics may have had a claimed owner, but the commercial project surrounding Toad Venom was collaborative.

The First Melt

According to Chad Lee’s Water Boyz account on the GoodPizza podcast, West Coast Alchemy produced the first Toad Venom rosin release connected to the Oklahoma operation.

The packaging already featured green frog or toad imagery. That matters because the Toad Venom name and visual identity existed before the Detroit Runtz controversy and before Frog Poison became a recognizable California name.

Both sides therefore place Toad Venom before Frog Poison.

Processing Problems

Jake says the conflict did not begin with someone trying to take a clone.

According to his account tensions developed while the operation was still active, forcing the cultivation side to work with additional processors

Jake says his group eventually decided to move Toad Venom production elsewhere and had also discussed a possible non-exclusive licensing or access deal with a larger company.

He says WCA and Water Boyz knew about that plan and initially congratulated the group despite losing the processing work. This is Jake’s account of the supplier dispute. WCA and Water Boyz frame the later conflict differently.

The Partnership Collapses

The broader Oklahoma venture eventually fell apart amid financial, operational and ownership disputes.

Water Boyz says money was lost in the project and that J later offered genetics as compensation. According to their account, they were given access to a clone list and selected Toad Venom.

From their perspective, the transfer had been authorized by an owner of the Oklahoma company.

Jake disputes that J had authority over the genetics themselves.

His position is that Connoisseur Cannabis did not own the underlying West Coast Connoisseur genetics, meaning J could not legitimately transfer Toad Venom to someone else simply through ownership or control of the company.

Water Boyz’s position is fundamentally different. They say they approached someone they understood to have authority and received permission.

The dispute is therefore not simply about whether someone requested Toad Venom.

It is about who actually had the right to give it away.

Why WCA Went Back to J

Jake believes the processing change helped trigger the confrontation.

He says West Coast Alchemy felt it had played an important role in building Toad Venom and became upset when processing moved elsewhere. According to Jake, WCA and Water Boyz then returned to J seeking the genetics.

West Coast Alchemy and Water Boyz reject the idea that they were stealing genetics or acting out of revenge.

Their version is that they were owed money from the failed venture and were offered genetics as compensation.

The contact with J is part of both stories.

The motive and authority behind it remain disputed.

The Detroit Runtz Switch

Despite the ownership dispute, the competing accounts converge on one critical event:

The first clone distributed as Toad Venom was not Toad Venom. It was Detroit Runtz.

Joey (a cannabis connoisseur grower/employee) later acknowledged intentionally sending Detroit Runtz under the Toad Venom name.

Where the sides disagree is why he did it.

The Joey and Jake Version

Jake says Joey understood the original genetics arrangement and believed Connoisseur Cannabis was licensed to use West Coast Connoisseur genetics, not independently distribute them.

Under that version, the false clone was intentional.

Jake now describes the switch as a smokescreen designed to create uncertainty while his side rebuilt its genetic library and protected backup material outside Oklahoma.

He says they expected the deception to be discovered quickly because Detroit Runtz and Toad Venom were substantially different plants.

Instead, the mislabeled clone traveled much farther than expected.

The Water Boyz and WCA Version

Water Boyz and West Coast Alchemy reject the premise that they were improperly obtaining genetics.

Their account begins with J authorizing Toad Venom as compensation for money owed from the failed project.

From their perspective, Joey was not protecting genetics from an unauthorized transfer. He was ignoring what they believed was a legitimate instruction from an owner.

West Coast Alchemy says it had no idea the clone had been switched.

Believing the plant was authentic, the group propagated it, moved it through its network, flowered it and even produced rosin under the Toad Venom identity.

The deliberate substitution is therefore not the main disagreement.

Joey intentionally sent the wrong plant. The unresolved question is whether the people requesting Toad Venom had a legitimate right to receive it.