Morocco pursues place in global cannabis market
Morocco looks to join the legal global cannabis market after hauling a major hash harvest in 2023, according to Reuters on 18th March.
The 294 metric tonnes of legally cultivated cannabis were compiled by 32 cooperatives from 430 farms in the northern Rif mountain regions.
Since March 2024, Moroccan cannabis farmers began to cultivate a local and drought resistant strain of marijuana called Beldia.
In 2023, Morocco was awarded 54 export permits for the medicinal drug.
The Moroccan government’s move in 2021 to legalise the crop aimed to secure and improve farmers’ incomes, whilst protecting them from drug traders who export cannabis resin illegally and dominate the market.
READ: Moroccan authorities seize 3 tonnes of cannabis resin
Director of Morocco’s cannabis regulation organisation (ANRAC), Mohammed El Guerrouj stated “the legal market will guarantee [farmers] income four to five times higher than what they earned illegally,” as only 4% of the revenue from the illegal market was given to the growers, according to the ministry of the interior, Le Monde reported.
However, 38-year-old farmer, Aziz told Le Monte “I don’t see what the legal market is going to do,” in terms of financial gain.
Another cannabis farmer shared his concerns with the legal trade as he feels left “in the dark” about “to whom and at what price will we sell? Which seeds?…we’re not going to risk losing everything,” by exiting the illegal trading market.
Although the recreational use of cannabis in Morocco is illegal, Morocco stands as a major cannabis producer, especially in northern regions where the plant has been grown and smoked publicly for generations.
For Aziz, the legal side had the upper hand and he opted to cut his ties with illegal traders and work without the fear of prosecution.
“There is always the risk that a buyer caught by the police or a malicious neighbour reports you,” Aziz added.
Reuters/Le Monde
