Morocco Denies Plans to Decriminalize Cannabis Cultivation, Despite Political Claims

Yet PAM deputy Laarbi Lamharchi seemed to have a good grasp of the subject when he announced a few days ago that the government had positively interacted with two bills from the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), regarding the decriminalization of cannabis cultivation and a general amnesty for small growers. The announcement made the rounds of the media and the way the international media covered the issue suggests that the government is in full agreement with such an announcement.

But a government source assured the daily AL Akhbar that the issue was not on the government’s agenda of concerns. According to this source, it would be "hasty statements" coming from the PAM Advisor, who was pleased on Facebook that his bill had finally received the government’s approval to be examined and probably adopted. The government’s acceptance to participate in the discussion session of the bill at the level of the ad hoc committee is just the expression of its agreement or disagreement with the proposal, specifies the same source.

The Minister of Justice, Mohammed Ben Abdelkader, will give the government’s position on the issue at the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 8 on this subject. Especially the aspect related to the proposal to grant a general amnesty to all persons currently prosecuted by the justice system or wanted for having cultivated cannabis. Regarding the decriminalization of cannabis cultivation, the same government source indicates that the project will be transmitted to the productive sectors committee of the House of Representatives and that, in this case, the Minister of Justice is not even concerned.

The same source believes that it is unlikely that the government will interact positively with the two bills. It should be recalled that a similar bill from the Istiqlal party, dating from 2013, has remained without a positive response from the government until today.