Morocco postpones discussion of legalizing the cultivation, sale and export of cannabis

The discussion on the legalization of cannabis in Morocco has been postponed indefinitely, according to a news report from Morocco World News yesterday, March 4th. The decision on the adoption of the draft law, scheduled for 25 February, was postponed, once again, to a next meeting of the government council, with a date yet to be announced.

The country discusses the possibility of legalizing both the cultivation of cannabis and the export and sale for medicinal and industrial purposes, but once again the government has postponed the debate. According to information published by the Reuters last week, the bill provides for the entire process to be overseen by a national agency to be created for the purpose. Under the new law under discussion, recreational use will continue to be illegal. 

Until recently, the biggest impediment to the evolution of the legalization discussion was the PJD, the Islamist party that has led the ruling coalition since 2011. However, the party has agreed to discuss changing the law since the United Nations withdrew its cannabis and its derivatives from the list of most dangerous substances.

fight traffic
One of the arguments in favor of legalization is the protection of impoverished farmers in the North, who end up at the mercy of the traffickers who control the business, as well as the economic opportunity to enter the growing global cannabis market (according to the newspaper Hespress, this market had an average growth of 30% worldwide and 60% at European level).

Cannabis is an autochthonous plant in Morocco and its cultivation is part of the country's DNA. The UN places it as the world's largest producer and exporter of hashish and it is from the Rif Mountains, in the north of the country, where the famous Kif mar comes from.rochin.

It was Sultan Hassan I who, in 1890, gave license to five villages in the central Rif region of the country to grow cannabis, while banning plantations in the rest of the country. This license was renewed in the 50s, despite the country maintaining a prohibitionist policy that, in 2003, led it to reduce the area dedicated to the cultivation of the 134 thousand hectares to 47 thousand.

In recent months, the country has seen new protests in the Rif area due to social inequalities and this law, in addition to the economic benefits, can help to calm tempers and dignify farmers, most of whom are linked to the cultivation of cannabis for the hashish production.

It is estimated that the country produces around 1 million kilos of this substance per year, which is then sent to European trafficking networks, generating, at market prices (about €8 per gram), around €8 billion. , according to the with the BBC.