Authorities seize more than 2 tons of cannabis in Morocco

Police officers in Morocco completed a massive drugs raid in the southern part of the country this week.

Morocco’s Directorate-General for National Security said on Tuesday “that police have dismantled an international drug trafficking network,” as reported by Morocco World News, which noted that the raid to arrest “five suspects, aged between 24 and 44, for their alleged involvement led to the network.”

The Directorate-General for National Security, or DGSN, which serves as Morocco’s national police force, gave details of the operation on Twitter, which said it was a “joint security operation between the Judicial Police and the interests of the Directorate-General for National Territorial Surveillance … led to the.” Stopping an attempt to smuggle international goods of two tons and 120 kilograms of Shira and seizing a dinghy and equipment used in maritime navigation.”

#Anti Drug Smuggling
Guelmim.. A joint security operation between the Judicial Police and the interests of the General Directorate of National Territorial Surveillance, resulting in the aborting of an attempt to smuggle international goods of two tons and 120 kilograms of Shira and seizing a rubber dinghy and equipment used in maritime navigation becomes. pic.twitter.com/iCUrjv5Ob3

— DGSN MOROCCO (@DGSN_MOROCCO) December 6, 2022

According to Morocco World News, the country has “intensified its efforts against drug trafficking”.

“Last year, the Moroccan police handled 82,950 cases related to drug possession and trafficking. Security services sent 103,589 people to court, including 261 foreigners,” the outlet reported. “In the same year, the police seized 191 tons and 158 kilograms of cannabis, one of the most widely used drugs in Morocco. The amount of cannabis seized in 2021 represents a 12% decrease compared to 2020.”

The increased enforcement comes at a time when Moroccan cannabis laws are changing significantly. Moroccan lawmakers, long regarded as one of the world’s top cannabis producers, passed legislation last year “allowing the therapeutic use of cannabis, an important reform for this North African country, considered one of the world’s leading hashish producers.” This was reported at the time by the Agence France press.

“The aim of the draft law … is to “turn illegal cultivation, which destroys the environment, back into legal activities that are sustainable and create value and jobs,” explained Agence France-Presse. “Members of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), at the head of the governing coalition, were the only ones to vote against the text presented by the executive, which denounced ‘hastyness and risk of exploitation in the electoral campaign’ for the regional government in those in September and the legislature in early October.”

In October, the country issued the first round of cannabis cultivation permits. The newly formed National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis Activities (ANRAC), which acts as the main regulator of the Moroccan cannabis industry, issued 10 permits for both production and cultivation.

Morocco World News reported at the time that “after the initial licenses, ANRAC will begin authorizing farmers to legally grow and produce cannabis within a tightly regulated framework of agri-cooperatives.”

“This process will take place at the provincial level in the provinces of Al Hoceima, Chefchaouen and Taounate, in line with the expressed needs of the industry,” the outlet reported. “ANRAC continues to study the prospects of the market to generate sector-wide growth and facilitate farmers’ transition from illegal to legal activities,” the final statement read.

The outlet provided more background on the policy change:

“In recent years, Morocco has changed its approach to create a legal framework that allows legal cannabis production while combating illegal cultivation and commercialization of the popular product. In June this year, Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit attended the first meeting of ANRAC. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the final stages of the implementation of Law 13-21, which describes the authorized uses of cannabis. The meeting also approved the agency’s first steps, which included the establishment of the first cooperatives for the production of local medicinal cannabis. Morocco’s Regulation 13-21 hopes to ensure that farmers switch to legal cannabis cultivation to increase income and improve working conditions, but does little to capitalize on Morocco’s massive illicit cannabis production, which supplies 70% of Europe’s cannabis needs .”