By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Morocco’s king has granted pardon to almost 5,000 persons convicted, or on the wanted list over charges bordering on illegal cultivation of cannabis, the justice ministry said in a statement.
The number comprises of 685 already convicted persons and 4,831 persons linked to the farming.
King Mohammed VI by the move is aiming to encourage farmers “to engage in the legal process of cannabis cultivation to improve their revenue and living conditions,” Mohammed El Guerrouj, head of Moroccan cannabis regulator ANRAC, told Reuters news agency.
The African country is a major cannabis producer and has allowed the cultivation, export and use of the herb for medicine or in industry since 2021.
The Muslim-majority country does not however allow the use of cannabis for recreational purposes.
According to official figures, Morocco’s first legal cannabis harvest was 294 metric tons in 2023.
Legal exports since 2023 so far stood at 225 kilograms, Guerrouj said.
This year it is expected to be higher as the number of farming permits increases and ANRAC allows the cultivation of the local strain known as Beldia.
Nearly a million people live in areas of northern Morocco where cannabis is the main economic activity, Reuters report says.
It has been publicly grown and smoked there for generations, mixed with tobacco in traditional long-stemmed pipes with clay bowls.
The 2021 legalisation was intended to improve farmers’ incomes and protect them from drug traffickers who dominate the cannabis trade and export it illegally.
Morocco is also seeking to tap into a growing global market for legal cannabis, and awarded 54 export permits last year.
