Morocco: The Underground Hashish Market Still Resists Legalization

Since the 2021 law aimed at regulating cannabis cultivation for therapeutic and industrial use, Moroccan authorities have issued thousands of licenses. This government initiative aims to regulate a sector historically linked to trafficking. However, the impact of this transition remains limited compared to the scale of clandestine networks, particularly entrenched in the Rif. This verdant and mountainous zone in the north of the country, which stretches from Tangier to Saïdia, has always cultivated its historical distinctiveness.

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In this epicenter of production, between one and a half million people depend directly or indirectly on this agriculture. As OkDiario reports, many farmers prefer to continue operating outside the legal framework due to significantly higher financial returns. While the State actively encourages the formation of cooperatives and the creation of regulated derivative products like CBD, these official volumes still remain exceptional compared to the weight of traditional trafficking.

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The kingdom thus maintains its position among the world’s leading cannabis resin producers. The overwhelming majority of these harvests continues to feed illicit circuits shipping the drug to Europe. Although the Moroccan executive defends its legalization process as a genuine lever for economic development and a weapon against drug trafficking, the transition proves slow and incomplete. On the ground, formal and informal systems coexist in a highly unbalanced manner, confirming the status of the illegal market as the true financial engine of these territories.