poledriver
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Morocco, top hash provider, mulls legislation to break marijuana taboo and legalize growing
In the rugged Rif mountains, Abdelkhalek Benabdallah strode among towering marijuana plants, checking the buds for the telltale spots of white that indicate they are ready for harvest.
Much of the crop had been picked and left to dry on the roofs of stone-and-wood huts that dot the valley, the heart Morocco’s pot-growing region. Benabdallah says he openly grows the crop, while understanding the risk: “We are regularly subject to blackmail by the gendarmes,” he said as he scythed through stalks and wrapped them into a bundle.
Morocco’s marijuana farmers live in a strange limbo in which the brilliant green fields are left alone, while the growers themselves face constant police harassment. A new draft law may bring some reprieve: It aims to legalize marijuana growing for medical and industrial uses, a radical idea for a Muslim nation. It could alleviate poverty and social unrest, but the proposal faces stiff opposition in this conservative country, as well as the suspicions of farmers themselves, who think politicians can do nothing help them.
Morocco is joining many other countries in the world, as well as some U.S. states, in re-examining drug policies and looking to some degree of legalization. Morocco’s situation is unusual, however, in that Islamic traditions create deep taboos against drugs, despite the centuries-old tradition of growing marijuana in the north.
There are some 80,000 families in the northern Rif mountains of Morocco who make their living from growing pot, according to U.N. estimates; the region supplies nearly all of Europe’s hashish and is the world’s top supplier along with Afghanistan. The World Customs Authority reported that in 2013, 65 per cent of hashish seized at customs worldwide came from Morocco. Estimates vary wildly for how much the business is worth but legalization would certainly provide a substantial boost to farmers and to Morocco’s anemic economy, which is forecast to grow by just 2.5 per cent this year.
For now, the profits go to the buyers and smugglers who pay the farmers little for their crop and reap huge profits in Europe — where consumption in places like Amsterdam’s famed coffee shops has been decriminalized. The trade has brought little wealth to the region, with farmers saying a kilogram of kif, as the plant is known locally, sells for $8 and they make an average of just $3,000 to $4,000 a year.
They say they are completely neglected by the state — except for its police force.
Growers say that neighbours with scores to settle file anonymous complaints with authorities resulting in a visit from the paramilitary gendarmes, confiscation of the crop and months or years in prison — unless a bribe can be paid. Nourredine Mediane, a lawmaker from the region, said some 15,000 people from the area are currently in detention and another 30,000 are wanted by authorities.
Clutching his wide-brimmed straw hat, one deeply lined farmer described how he learned he was wanted by police when he went to renew his national ID card in a nearby town. Since then, he has not left his mountainside village and relies on family members to pick up supplies.
“I am scared to even go to the doctor,” he said, asking that his name not be used for fear of arrest. “I don’t even have the national identity card and I’m stuck in the village.”
Despite fear of arrest, many locals have no choice but to grow pot. The valley’s rocky soil is poor and the only crop that seems to thrive is marijuana, which was legal to grow under royal mandate in certain regions of the Rif until 1974, when the government passed a blanket ban on the cultivation and consumption of all drugs.
The marijuana ban was passed just as European visitors to the marijuana growing regions taught the farmers to produce hashish for export to feed rising demand across the Mediterranean. The ban also brought Morocco in line with the 1961 UN convention against drugs it had signed.
The security-centred approach to the problem has failed, argued Mehdi Bensaid, a lawmaker with the opposition Party of Authenticity and Modernity that was founded by a close associate of the king. The party’s draft law would keep pot consumption — widespread among young Moroccans in parts of the country — illegal, but legalize production.
Continued -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-legalize-growing/article20959360/?cmpid=rss1
In the rugged Rif mountains, Abdelkhalek Benabdallah strode among towering marijuana plants, checking the buds for the telltale spots of white that indicate they are ready for harvest.
Much of the crop had been picked and left to dry on the roofs of stone-and-wood huts that dot the valley, the heart Morocco’s pot-growing region. Benabdallah says he openly grows the crop, while understanding the risk: “We are regularly subject to blackmail by the gendarmes,” he said as he scythed through stalks and wrapped them into a bundle.
Morocco’s marijuana farmers live in a strange limbo in which the brilliant green fields are left alone, while the growers themselves face constant police harassment. A new draft law may bring some reprieve: It aims to legalize marijuana growing for medical and industrial uses, a radical idea for a Muslim nation. It could alleviate poverty and social unrest, but the proposal faces stiff opposition in this conservative country, as well as the suspicions of farmers themselves, who think politicians can do nothing help them.
Morocco is joining many other countries in the world, as well as some U.S. states, in re-examining drug policies and looking to some degree of legalization. Morocco’s situation is unusual, however, in that Islamic traditions create deep taboos against drugs, despite the centuries-old tradition of growing marijuana in the north.
There are some 80,000 families in the northern Rif mountains of Morocco who make their living from growing pot, according to U.N. estimates; the region supplies nearly all of Europe’s hashish and is the world’s top supplier along with Afghanistan. The World Customs Authority reported that in 2013, 65 per cent of hashish seized at customs worldwide came from Morocco. Estimates vary wildly for how much the business is worth but legalization would certainly provide a substantial boost to farmers and to Morocco’s anemic economy, which is forecast to grow by just 2.5 per cent this year.
For now, the profits go to the buyers and smugglers who pay the farmers little for their crop and reap huge profits in Europe — where consumption in places like Amsterdam’s famed coffee shops has been decriminalized. The trade has brought little wealth to the region, with farmers saying a kilogram of kif, as the plant is known locally, sells for $8 and they make an average of just $3,000 to $4,000 a year.
They say they are completely neglected by the state — except for its police force.
Growers say that neighbours with scores to settle file anonymous complaints with authorities resulting in a visit from the paramilitary gendarmes, confiscation of the crop and months or years in prison — unless a bribe can be paid. Nourredine Mediane, a lawmaker from the region, said some 15,000 people from the area are currently in detention and another 30,000 are wanted by authorities.
Clutching his wide-brimmed straw hat, one deeply lined farmer described how he learned he was wanted by police when he went to renew his national ID card in a nearby town. Since then, he has not left his mountainside village and relies on family members to pick up supplies.
“I am scared to even go to the doctor,” he said, asking that his name not be used for fear of arrest. “I don’t even have the national identity card and I’m stuck in the village.”
Despite fear of arrest, many locals have no choice but to grow pot. The valley’s rocky soil is poor and the only crop that seems to thrive is marijuana, which was legal to grow under royal mandate in certain regions of the Rif until 1974, when the government passed a blanket ban on the cultivation and consumption of all drugs.
The marijuana ban was passed just as European visitors to the marijuana growing regions taught the farmers to produce hashish for export to feed rising demand across the Mediterranean. The ban also brought Morocco in line with the 1961 UN convention against drugs it had signed.
The security-centred approach to the problem has failed, argued Mehdi Bensaid, a lawmaker with the opposition Party of Authenticity and Modernity that was founded by a close associate of the king. The party’s draft law would keep pot consumption — widespread among young Moroccans in parts of the country — illegal, but legalize production.
Continued -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-legalize-growing/article20959360/?cmpid=rss1
