Former Moroccan PM’s Leaked Audio Opposes Cannabis Legalization Bill

In this audio recording, Abdelilah Benkirane called on PJD activists to stand up against the draft law 13-21 on the legal use of cannabis, reports the newspaper Al Akhbar. "If the MPs vote against this law, they are mine and I am theirs. If they vote for this law, there will be nothing more to say," he said in the recording. The former head of government had made these remarks during a meeting with MPs. Mohammed Yatim, former secretary general of the PJD, inadvertently broadcast this audio recording before deleting it. Too late. The recording has already been widely circulated on social media.

Before the draft law 13-21 on the legal use of cannabis was examined by the government council, Abdelilah Benkirane had threatened to leave the PJD. He had indeed carried out this threat. This is how he had announced in a message posted on his Facebook page on March 11 the "freezing of his membership in the PJD" and the "rupture" of his relationship with his successor Saâdeddine El Othmani, as well as with the party ministers Mustapha Ramid, Mohamed Amekraz, Aziz Rebbah, and the former minister Lahcen Daoudi following the adoption of this project in the government council, before reversing his decision. This draft law continues to arouse strong tensions within the party of the lamp.