Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Algerian Minister of Islamic Affairs Youssef Belmehdi accused Morocco of planning to spread drug addiction in Algeria.
Belmehdi directly attacked Morocco during his participation in an “awareness-raising” seminar on drug control.
The seminar took place a few days before Morocco announced the adoption of a bill legalizing cannabis production for therapeutic use.
Morocco adopted the bill on Thursday following a series of discussions and consultations.
Algeria often uses Moroccan-related internal affairs to attack Morocco.
After the Sahara and Israel-Morocco accord, Algerian officials are now using cannabis-related topics to attack sovereign and domestic affairs in the country in an attempt to cover up its economic crisis and Hirak movement.
Belmehdi directly attacked Morocco, claiming the “existence of gangs legalizing [the] cultivation of drugs.”
He claimed that those “parties do not wish good for Algeria,” accusing Morocco of spreading a scourge of drug addiction.
The attack against Morocco’s cannabis legalization bill is not the first of its kind.
Several Algerian media reported on the bill.
Read Also: Morocco Adopts Bill Legalizing Medical Production of Cannabis
Radio Algerienne recently published a hostile article attacking Rabat’s new legislation and accused the country of attempting to cover up the economic crisis with the draft law.
“The government has found no way out, apart from adopting a business that it seeks to legalize to silence the voices demanding to live in dignity,” the radio program claimed.
The claims come as no surprise.
Former Algerian foreign minister Abdelkader Messahel once accused Morocco of “laundering drug money in sub-Saharan Africa,” dismissing Rabat’s increasing assertiveness in African geopolitics.
“Moroccan banks are being used in laundering the revenues from the sales of hashish [cannabis resin]. Everybody knows that,” the former FM claimed.
However, Algerian media continue to cover the major seizures of psychotropic pills trafficked to Morocco from Algeria.
Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) announced in 2017 that seizures of psychotropic pills from Algeria had increased notably in recent years.
DGSN said that Morocco’s security services confiscated 808,022 psychotropic pills in 2016, compared to 260,152 in 2015 and 293,282 in 2014.
