In the north of the Kingdom, more and more growers are leaving the underground to join the legal medical and industrial cannabis industry. But red tape, low prices and the lure of the black market are still holding back momentum.
BAB BERRED, Morocco – Under a sweltering summer sun, Abderrahman Talbi observes the neat rows of cannabis plants thriving in his fields. Since joining Morocco’s legal cannabis industry two years ago, his life has taken a radical turn.
Like many farmers in the Rif mountains, long accustomed to growing the plant illegally, Talbi says he’s relieved to no longer fear police raids and seizures. “I can now say I’m a cannabis grower without fear,” he confides. “Peace of mind is priceless.”
A pioneer on the African continent
This change of direction has made Morocco a pioneer among the world’s major producers, and the very first country in the Arab world to join the global movement led by Canada, Germany and Uruguay, which have legalized the production and use of cannabis.
The aim was also to divert farmers away from the black market, long tolerated in the Rif in the name of social peace. A region where tensions remain high: Al Hoceïma, one of the main towns in the area, was the scene of the country’s biggest demonstrations between 2016 and 2017.
The momentum seems to be there: according to the National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis-Related Activities (ANRAC), some 5,000 farmers entered the legal system this year, compared with just 430 in 2023. Supervised production has also risen sharply, reaching almost 4,200 tonnes last year – fourteen times more than the first harvest.
Black market and green gold
But in reality, the black market remains dominant and extremely profitable. Driven by strong recreational demand in Europe and Africa, it threatens to short-circuit regulatory efforts.
Morocco currently has 5,800 hectares of legal cultivation, according to ANRAC. This figure is still very low compared to the 27,100 hectares of illegal cultivation recorded by the Ministry of the Interior. The latter reports that 249 tonnes of cannabis resin were seized by the end of September 2024 – an increase of 48% on the whole of the previous year.
Mohammed Azzouzi, 52, knows all about the dangers of going underground. Convicted of cannabis-related offences, he spent three years on the run before being pardoned last year, along with over 4,800 other people. Today, he is preparing for his first legal harvest and hopes to surpass the 10,000 dirhams (around $1,100) he used to earn each year in the underground economy.
Administrative delays
Since recreational cannabis is still banned, and each link in the chain requires a specific license issued by ANRAC, the bureaucracy weighs heavily. Many farmers are still reluctant to take the plunge.
To grow legally, you need to join an approved cooperative, which takes charge of buying back the harvest to transform it into medical derivatives or resell the resin to authorized manufacturers. This is the case for Biocannat, Talbi’s cooperative, located near Bab Berred, some 300 km north of Rabat. By 2023, it had bought some 200 tonnes of cannabis from around 200 farmers, before processing it into resin, dietary supplements, capsules, oils and powders for medical or cosmetic use.
In Issaguen, the main production area some 60 km away, enthusiasm has waned. Farmer Mohamed El Mourabit had welcomed the 2021 law with hope. Today, he is disillusioned: “The process is too complicated”, he sighs.
What about recreational cannabis?
Administrative delays aside, money is the key to the war. While cooperatives sometimes take months to pay growers around 50 dirhams per kilo of raw plant, the black market offers up to 2,500 dirhams per kilo of processed resin. A differential that continues to weigh heavily on farmers’ decisions.
Some people are calling for legalization to be extended to recreational use, which they see as the only way of really curbing the illegal market. But to date, this hypothesis remains unlikely.
Mohamed Guerrouj, Director of ANRAC, has made it clear that recreational use will only be considered in a medical context. “The aim is to develop the Moroccan pharmaceutical industry, not coffee shops”, he says.
