Morocco Convenes High-Level Meeting to Address Cannabis Policy and WHO Recommendations

Speaking on this occasion, the Minister of Health, Khalid Ait Taleb, indicated that this meeting "is part of both an institutional and consultative approach to address a sensitive issue in terms of public health and national anti-drug policy, namely the issue of cannabis and related substances."

According to him, the scourge of drugs continues to spread, taking on different facets as complex and complicated as each other, marked by the emergence of new behaviors in terms of consumption and trafficking, threatening the mental health of citizens and social cohesion, weighing heavily on health and justice systems.

"Today, cannabis is at the heart of a debate of a different magnitude. More and more voices are rising to raise awareness and emphasize the other facets of this drug, namely its therapeutic and medicinal virtues," said the Minister of Health. According to Khalid Ait Taleb, this is the first time that the WHO has begun to change its position on cannabis and related substances, by calling on its Expert Committee on Dependence to conduct a critical review of the classification currently applied to cannabis and related substances. This, since the adoption of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

The recommendations made by the WHO Expert Committee were presented at the conference. They will be submitted to the vote of the members of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, including Morocco, at the 63rd regular session to be held in Vienna from March 2 to 6.