Rabat - Morocco is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cannabis, says the US Department of State in its 2017 report on International Narcotics Control Strategy.
Rabat – Morocco is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cannabis, says the US Department of State in its 2017 report on International Narcotics Control Strategy.
Citing the 2016’s United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the U.S. State Dept. recalls “that total cannabis production for the 2015-2016 growing season was an estimated 700 metric tons,” which is inaccurate since the UN data covers the year of 2013.
The report added that this quantity is, “potentially equivalent to as much as 23 percent of Morocco’s $100 billion GDP once processed into hashish.”
However in its part concerning the Methodology, the report doesn’t precise the criteria used to estimate the market value of the estimated production. By the opposite, there was clear explanation concerning estimations’ criteria for cultivating, producing or processing.
“Hashish is the most widely used illicit drug within Morocco. Moroccan authorities cite “karkoubi,” a generic name for several addictive benzodiazepines, as the second most commonly used drug,” added the report precising that “The Moroccan government has claimed that these psychotropic drugs enter the country from mainly from Algeria, and have been tied to a number of violent crimes committed by mostly young men under their hallucinogenic and aggressive effects.”
The report added that there is a domestic market for cocaine and heroin, albeit a relatively small one due to the high price of these drugs.
“Morocco is updating its criminal code of procedure to enable law enforcement agencies to conduct undercover operations and other techniques not currently allowed,” added the State Department.
The new law is expected to come into effect in spring 2017.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) opened in February 2017 its first regional office on the African continent in Rabat. The report, however, explains that there is no extradition treaty in force between the United States and Morocco.
