Morocco Poised to Legalize Medical Cannabis, Transforming Its Cannabis Industry

For Kenza Afsahi, a teacher-researcher at the Emile Durkheim Center (CNRS-Sciences Po Bordeaux), interviewed by Ouest France, the project to legalize "medical cannabis" is a major development even though Morocco is known to be the world’s leading producer of cannabis resin, currently illegal, and the main supplier to Europeans.

In the opinion of the teacher-researcher, this decision by the Moroccan authorities is in line with changes on an international scale, particularly at the UN, in the assessment of drug policies, particularly cannabis. Also, she points out, the ecological urgency in the Rif, the main production area in Morocco where it is necessary to review the new very intensive cultivation methods that have caused environmental damage and worsened the economic, social and health situation of the peasants.

In addition to facilitating access to cannabis for sick Moroccans, the scientist sees a real opportunity to build new relationships between the state and the thousands of traffickers who have lived in illegality for several decades, the possibility of social reintegration, insists Afsahi.

In her analysis, the Emile Durkheim Center researcher states that the "medical" cannabis market will remain less important than total production, as a large part of cannabis growers would prefer to remain in illegality by remaining loyal to the illegal networks supplying Europe.

On March 11, Morocco adopted a draft law authorizing "medical, cosmetic and industrial" use of cannabis, paving the way for the legalization of its therapeutic use on its territory. The bill must be validated by parliament.