Morocco pardons nearly 5,000 cannabis farming convicts

Morocco's king has pardoned nearly 5,000 people convicted or wanted on charges linked to illegal cannabis cultivation, the justice ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Morocco is a major cannabis producer and has allowed the cultivation, export and use of the drug for medicine or in industry since 2021, but it does not allow it to be used for recreational purposes.

The pardon by King Mohammed VI would 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 news agency Reuters.

Morocco's first legal cannabis harvest was 294 metric tons in 2023, according to official figures. 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. 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.