The King of Morocco has decided to pardon more than 4,800 farmers facing prosecution or convicted in cases of illegal cannabis cultivation, the Ministry of Justice announced on Monday evening, August 19. On the eve of a national holiday, Mohammed VI “has kindly granted pardon to 4,831 people convicted, prosecuted or wanted in cases related to cannabis cultivation”the ministry said in a statement.
The purpose of this grace is to allow “for beneficiaries to integrate into the new strategy” launched after the partial legalization of cannabis production for therapeutic purposes. Morocco, the world’s leading producer of cannabis according to the UN, adopted a law in 2021 regulating the industrial and medical uses of cannabis, authorizing its cultivation and exploitation in three deprived rural provinces of the Rif region in the northeast.
The kingdom has set itself the goal of combating drug trafficking, positioning itself on the global legal cannabis market and economically opening up the Rif, where the plant has been cultivated for centuries and supported between 80,000 and 120,000 families in 2019, according to official estimates.
The pardons only apply to farmers whose illegal activity was mostly tolerated, but who could be prosecuted.
“Participate in the new dynamic”
“This is an exceptional initiative that will allow these farmers and their families to live in serenity and peace, and to participate in the new dynamic of legalization.”commented the director of the National Agency for the Regulation of Activities Relating to Cannabis (Anrac) to AFP. For him, “It is also an important step towards the gradual elimination of illicit cultivation through the legalization or introduction of alternative crops.”.
Anrac was created, recalled the Ministry of Justice, in order to structure the legal sector through “the industrialization, transformation, export of cannabis and the import of its products for medical, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes”.
Anrac has already issued more than 200 authorisations to manufacturers for processing, importing and exporting seeds.