Morocco's bill to legalise cannabis divides growers
Prices have fallen hard in recent years as more potent, high-yield strains emerged
Thursday, March 18, 2021
The government of Morocco approved a law to allow the cultivation, export and use of cannabis for medicine or industry. Parliament looks likely to ratify it, despite the issue dividing the governing coalition’s biggest party. The change is meant to improve the lot of farmers in the often restive Rif region where it has been grown for decades, and to tap into a growing global market for legal cannabis. But the law has divided Rif farmers, who fear it will do nothing to address a years-long slide in their income or help them escape outstanding arrest warrants. Some want the law to allow recreational cannabis use and its processing into more lucrative resin - “hashish”. Others want its cultivation limited to their region alone. (See also: Cannabis: «moi, Abdeslam, cultivateur de kif, voici ce que ça me coûte»)
