Morocco: the next Government Council will discuss the legalization of cannabis

Next Thursday, the Moroccan Government Council will review a bill to legalize cannabis, according to a statement from the Office of the Head of Government.

Since 2015, when it first introduced a bill, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has been trying to move this issue forward in Morocco. The bill remained a dead letter for a long time, until the government’s announcement in early 2020 that would have agreed to consider the proposal then would have retracted.

In the middle of last year, the Special Commission on the Development Model (CSMD), tasked with finding solutions to accelerate Morocco’s development, had advocated legalizing cannabis in the Kingdom, judging that up to now, the crackdown on cannabis had not worked.

In contrast to the problems posed by the widespread cultivation and trade of a prohibited substance, Morocco has a strong opportunity to become one of Europe’s leading suppliers of medical cannabis, as it already is for recreational cannabis. Canada, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Australia, and Israel have already taken the lead.

The cannabis supports approximately 90,000 households in Morocco—or 700,000 people—according to official statistics from the Ministry of the Interior. The many Moroccan farmers who grow cannabis, however, depend on the black market, which reaps the bulk of the financial profits associated with the plant. Nevertheless, «50% of household income» in cultivation areas comes from cannabis, which generates up to 80,000 DH (18,500€) per year per family—an amount that remains higher than the average for other crops.