Can cannabis be both a therapeutic benefit and a financial boon? Muriel (who declined to be named), an executive in the pharmaceutical industry, found out by betting €6,500 on Juicy Fields. If this highly polished website promised her a return, she also believed that he had a “project to develop the therapeutic benefits of cannabis” to “particularly help people with autism spectrum disorders.” She even urged her mother to invest another 3,500 euros. But in July 2022, the site was shut down abruptly. Your money is gone.
However, it all started well for Muriel and thousands of other users of the platform, which started as a bad joke on April 1, 2020. It’s true that the scheme is tempting; The theory, simple and clear. With a minimum investment of 50 euros, the investor “buys” a cannabis plant and collects the profits from the sale of marijuana to authorized buyers, in all legality. Juicy Fields promises to pay outrageous interest of 36% to 66% three months later, depending on the production of each cannabis plant.
Billboard of Juicyfields.io as presented to e-growers SCREEN CAPTURE / BENJAMIN MARTIN
Many of Juicy Fields’ investors — also known as “e-growers” or “digital growers” — are experimenting with a few plants to ensure operations run smoothly. “I made an initial investment of fifty euros to test it and was able to withdraw my bet quickly and easily,” says Benjamin Martin, an engineer looking for lucrative investments. Encouraged by this first success, he continues to invest in the platform and fund assets, getting his earnings back regularly. He invests up to 25,000 euros.
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Like him, hundreds of thousands of users, from South Africa to Spain to France, are trying to increase their savings thanks to Juicy Fields. In an email sent to its members on June 14, 2022, the platform claims to have more than 500,000 active accounts. In certain Telegram groups, thousands of Internet users chat and exchange ideas with company employees every day.
Sudden closing
But on July 11, 2022, that well-oiled mechanism jammed. The “e-growers” learned via email that access to their accounts had been completely suspended and that a strike had begun within the company, with several employees claiming they were no longer being paid. Then an air of panic begins to waft through the chat loops. Baptiste Dho, a Monaco-based IT specialist who invested, recalls: “The Telegram channel was panicking and I felt my phone in my pocket, which was hot from all the notifications. While some are predicting a speedy return to normal, others fear being betrayed.
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