Morocco Grapples with Rising Drug Addiction as Cannabis Debate Intensifies

This report comes in the midst of a debate on the legalization of the cultivation and export of medical cannabis. In Morocco, where the consumption of the plant is prohibited, more than 35,000 tons were produced in 2017, of which about 700 tons were hashish. 60,000 families derive the bulk of their income from it, living largely in social isolation.

According to the commission, the cultivation of cannabis reinforces the "feeling of poverty, marginalization and isolation" within the population in the regions of Al Hoceima, Chefchaouen, Taounate, Larache and Tétouan due to the widespread exploitation by drug traffickers, discreet but who are the biggest beneficiaries of this trade, leaving the producers with the short end of the stick.