In the Rif Mountains, a Moroccan region opposite Spain, cannabis fields are ready to be harvested. This will be the second harvest since Morocco legalized [en 2021] the production of cannabis for therapeutic and industrial purposes.
It will also be special in that it will also be the first after the amnesty of traditional cannabis growers. On August 19, King Mohamed VI granted pardon to 4,831 farmers prosecuted or convicted for illegally growing cannabis.
On social networks, cooperatives that are well established encourage farmers to surf this “green wave”, illustrating their point with an easily identifiable marijuana leaf.
Cannabis as a development policy
For years, recalls Chakib El-Khayari, coordinator of the Coalition for the Medical and Industrial Use of Cannabis, Morocco reigned supreme on the global cannabis resin market.
“International reports, including those from UN agencies, indicated that 40% of hashish consumed worldwide and 80% of hashish consumed in Europe came from Morocco. This illicit trafficking pushed many small farmers and their families into the clutches of drug lords, who forced them to continue supplying them under threat and imposed hybrid seeds imported from Europe on them in order to increase the yield of the plots. ”, underlines Mr. El-Khayari, who has long campaigned for legalization.
“Morocco still ranked first in the world among the countries making the greatest number of seizures of cannabis and its derivatives, according to reports from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), administered by the UN. The methodology and classification of these reports are, however, open to question, since the authors themselves acknowledge that they have no information for certain countries, while other countries provide inaccurate data, thus distorting the classification. In this context, the only buyers of cannabis were the drug lords, who smuggled large quantities processed into hashish abroad.”
A sad reality that persists, but which Rabat is now striving to alleviate by focusing on legal trade. The royal pardon is part of the strategy initiated in June 2021 with the adoption of a law governing the legal uses of cannabis, voted against the advice of Islamists [du Parti de la justice et du développement, PJD]then a majority in Parliament.
This law limited the scope of legal cannabis cultivation to the three Rif provinces of Al-Hoceima, Chefchaouen and Taounate, which are among the poorest regions of the kingdom and reflect the gulf that separates rural Morocco from urban Morocco and coastal, favored by the development of infrastructure.
“There are an estimated 140,000 cannabis farmers and, including their families, more than a million people depend on this illicit economy. Cannabis cultivation has for decades made it possible to compensate for the failure of development policies in the Rif. explains Moroccan investigative journalist Hicham Mansouri.
Facilitate a legal and structured framework
The law, defended by groups like that of Mr. El-Khayari, aimed to improve the standard of living of some 60,000 families who subsist on cannabis and generally own small farms.
According to the National Agency for the Regulation of Activities Related to Cannabis (Anrac), the Moroccan state body which controls the cultivation of legal cannabis, the royal pardon will facilitate the transition between illegal and regulated trade and will thus promote reconversions.
“This amnesty constitutes a decisive step and a turning point towards the end of illicit crops”, judges the general director of Anrac, Mohamed El-Guerrouj, who plans a “massive support” to farmers. “It will open up new economic prospects for the local population and the private sector, both national and international, and will contribute to am
