Morocco helps farmers by legalizing medical cannabis

by Team Inc.

2021-02-27-Morocco helps farmers by legalizing medical cannabis

Morocco plans to allow the agriculture, export and domestic sale of cannabis for medical and industrial use, the government said Thursday. A step with which the government hopes to help the poor farmers in the Rif Mountains. Especially now that worldwide demand for cannabis as a medicine is increasing.

Previous attempts to cultivate cannabis in Morocco legalizefailed. The co-ruling Islamic PJD party dropped its opposition after the UN drug agency removed the plant from the list of most strictly controlled narcotics.

Farm wisdom: legalize cannabis

The bill, which the cabinet is expected to pass next week, aims to improve farmers' income. In addition, the new law will protect them from drug traffickers who now control the cannabis trade. This gives farmers access to the growing legal international market for the drug.

Cannabis is grown mainly in the Northern Rif Mountains, where there have been protests over economic inequality in recent years. The bill provides for a national agency to control production, transport and sales. Recreational use of cannabis in Morocco would still be banned.

Approval of cannabis law

Parliament still has to approve the plan. Although growing cannabis is currently illegal in Morocco, it has long been tolerated and the North African kingdom is among the world's top producers, according to the UN drug agency. Morocco has reduced the amount of land where cannabis is grown from 134.000 hectares in 2003 to 47.000 hectares six years ago, the Interior Ministry said.

In December, member states of the UN drug agency narrowly voted to remove cannabis from the most strictly controlled drug category, following the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation to facilitate research into its medical use. Morocco was one of the countries that supported the change.

Read more Reuters.com (Source, EN)

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