Beware of cannabis oil scammers

Author: Mustafa Al-Farooq

We here at PRW have been exposing the activities of the racist scammer Peter Reynolds since 2012, The man is a stain upon a peaceful movement that is trying to achieve reform of our antiquated cannabis laws in the UK.

Unfortunately, the cannabis movement attracts scammers, with Peter Reynolds of CLEAR is not the only charlatan and grass claiming to purport the cause of cannabis law reform.

Scammers come in all shapes and sizes. Oil scammers like Jeff Ditchfield blight the cannabis movement. Victims of Dodgy Ditchfield have attempted to expose him over the years, but many are unaware Ditchfield prays on the vulnerable by charging extortionate amounts for shit quality oil.

Jeff Ditchfield operates from Jamaica, Spain, North Wales and Brighton, selling dangerous badly made products he claims to be properly extracted cannabis oil, to families of cancer patients looking for one last hope to save their loved ones.

Cannabis oil has well-documented properties to treat cancer or to aid existing chemotherapy treatments. It’s not legal, so in absence of proper regulation it sadly will attract snake oil salesmen and con artists out to make a quick buck, even if it means scamming people with a terminal illness. There are people with cancer who want and need cannabis oil, they will go to any lengths to obtain it.

Ditchfield will sell any old rubbish as long as they have cash. One victim who didn’t want to be named said, “My mother was terminally ill with cancer; I contacted the Bud Buddies Facebook page asking for help and a meeting was set up with Jeff Ditchfield in the Wetherspoons pub in Hove. He told me and my partner that cannabis oil was our only hope; he was very convincing. We agreed to a fee of £3,000 for 60 ml of cannabis oil that we were told was of medical grade and subsequently met again a few weeks later in the same pub.

“Jeff insisted we pay him in cash, which was a struggle to find, however, we secured a loan and the transaction was made. The oil he supplied was near impossible to remove from the syringe and it made mother sick. After a few days, my mum didn’t want to take any more so we contacted Ditchfield to ask if we could return the oil and have a refund, minus the small amount we had used. Despite numerous oils, he never responded.

“My mother died a few weeks later; I tried to recoup some of the money by selling the oil to friends that I knew smoked cannabis, yet nobody wanted it, as they said it was impossible to smoke and when taken orally it made them ill.

Dodgy Ditchfield has set up fundraisers in the past, including raising money towards cannabinoid research for the University of Madrid. He initially kept the money, with no intention of handing any over until the University threatened him with legal action.

NORML UK removed Jeff Ditchfield as page editor on their Facebook page, after learning he was using the page’s inbox to source victims to scam.

A spokesman for NORML UK said, “Jeff Ditchfield approached NORML UK offering to help run our Facebook page. We were unaware of claims made by Ditchfield to supply free cannabis oil to those in need. A number of worrying stories came to light from cancer patients he had scammed and he was privately contacting members of the public who had contacted the page’s inbox to sell them low-quality cannabis oil for thousands of pounds to fund his luxury lifestyle.

“We unreservedly apologise to anybody who was ripped off by Jeff Ditchfield after sending a message looking for help source cannabis oil.

“NORML UK campaigns to change the law on cannabis, it is our policy not to give advice on how to source cannabis oil in the UK.”

Jason Eucups, whose sister was ripped off by Ditchfield to the tune of £3,000 said, “I’ve been trying to expose Jeff Ditchfield for years, as a result of this myself and my family have been subjected to the vilest abuse from Ditchfield and his trolls.

“This has not deterred me, and I will not stop until Jeff Ditchfield and his Bud Buddies scam are shut down.”