Morocco has granted amnesty to nearly 5,000 cannabis cultivation convicts

The justice ministry issued a statement on Monday announcing that Morocco’s monarch has granted pardons to nearly 5,000 individuals who have been convicted or sought on charges related to the illicit cultivation of cannabis.

Since 2021, Morocco has permitted the cultivation, export, and use of cannabis for medicinal or industrial purposes. However, it does not permit its recreational use. Morocco is a significant cannabis producer.

Mohammed El Guerrouj, the chief of Moroccan cannabis regulator ANRAC, stated to Reuters that the pardon by King Mohammed VI would motivate farmers to “participate in the legal process of cannabis cultivation in order to enhance their living conditions and revenue.”

Official figures indicate that Morocco’s inaugural authorized cannabis harvest was 294 metric tons in 2023. Guerrouj reported that the total legal exports since 2023 has been 225 kilograms.

It is anticipated that the number of agricultural permits will increase this year, and ANRAC will permit the cultivation of the local strain known as Beldia.

Cannabis is the primary economic activity in regions of northern Morocco, where nearly one million individuals reside. For generations, it has been grown and smoked in public, combined with tobacco in traditional long-stemmed pipes with clay vessels.

The objective of the 2021 legalization was to enhance the revenues of cultivators and safeguard them from drug traffickers who illegally export cannabis and control the cannabis trade.

Morocco is also attempting to capitalize on the expanding global market for legal cannabis, and it granted 54 export permits last year.