Report: Legal Barriers Hinder Morocco’s Cannabis Industry

Rabat – Despite the legalization of the production of cannabis for export in Morocco, legal restrictions are undermining the competitiveness of the industry as complicated legal procedures cause significant delays.

While Morocco’s evolving semi-progressive cannabis agenda promises great tax revenues for the treasury and a hundred new jobs, tight restrictions have kept companies from exporting the medical-grade cannabis in the international markets where the substance is in high demand, such as in countries like Germany and Israel, a report argues.

Of all the African countries that have legalized the herb, Lesotho, South Africa, and Uganda are the ones reaping the benefits, the Global Cannabis Report indicates.

The three African countries were responsible for the majority of medical-grade cannabis exports to the EU and Israel.

Moroccan cannabis remains absent from significant markets due to a multitude of reasons, including legal constraints, the report points out.

The country’s absence from the international arena comes at a time when local cannabis production makes up a third to half of the global production, according to some estimates.

Failure to smooth the legal process for the production and export of the herb means that Morocco is on the path to missing out on an industry projected to reach $102 billion by 2026, according to data from Prohibition Partners, a leading information provider of cannabis.

As of late 2021, global sales of cannabis and its CBD, a substance extracted from cannabis, for medical and recreational purposes stood at $37 billion. No data is available on the volume of Morocco’s legal cannabis exports.

After Morocco passed a law to legalize the production and export of cannabis in July of 2021, the country’s interior minister had said that “Morocco- Cannabis legalization offers ‘promising and stable job opportunities.’”

Ever since announcing the first draft legalizing cannabis for export purposes, little effort has been exerted towards making the market business-friendly the report indicates.