Moroccan Lawmaker Pushes for Medical Cannabis Legalization, Citing Global Trends

"When could Morocco one day consider following the path of Canada, the United States and the Netherlands and reaping the therapeutic benefits of the cannabis plant?" asked Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah.

According to the deputy of the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), the medical use of cannabis would be of great benefit to the populations, due to its recognized "therapeutic benefits" in "more than 30 countries around the world".

To support his argument, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah hinted that "some university professors have managed to extract from Moroccan cannabis the same substances used in the manufacture of several drugs in Europe and North America".

"This question joins a debate that the PAM had launched (in 2015), during the last term, to legalize the use of this plant in a strictly medical framework," said PAM deputy Ibtissam Azzaoui.

For its part, the Council of the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma region intends to finance a new study on "the exploitation of the therapeutic and pharmacological properties of cannabis". The study will be conducted in collaboration with the Scientific Institute of Rabat, attached to the Mohammed V University.

Moreover, a study published by the Prohibition Partners Institute last August shows that the production of Moroccan cannabis for recreational use could generate $916 million and that of cannabis for medical use $28 million, by 2024.