Morocco’s legal cannabis trade struggles against black market dominance

In the scorching heat of Morocco’s Rif mountains, Abderrahman Talbi tends his cannabis plants without the fear that has haunted farmers here for generations. “I can now say I am a cannabis farmer without fear,” he tells Reuters. “Peace of mind has no price.”

Two years after Morocco legalized cannabis cultivation for medical and industrial uses, the industry shows both promise and persistent challenges. Legal farmers have surged from 430 in 2023 to approximately 5,000 today, while production skyrocketed fourteen-fold to 4,200 tonnes last year.

Yet these impressive numbers tell only part of the story. Morocco’s illegal cannabis fields still dwarf the legal sector—27,100 hectares versus just 5,800 hectares of licensed cultivation, according to Interior Ministry data. The underground economy’s grip remains strong, fueled by lucrative European demand for recreational cannabis that Morocco’s laws don’t address, Reuters commented.

Money talks louder than regulations. While legal cooperatives pay farmers 50 dirhams per kilogram after months-long delays, black market resin fetches up to 2,500 dirhams per kilogram—cash on delivery. This fifty-fold price difference makes risk-taking attractive, despite authorities seizing 249 tons of illegal resin last year, up 48 percent.

Mohamed Guerrouj, heading Morocco’s cannabis regulator ANRAC, dismisses calls for recreational legalization. “The goal is to develop Morocco’s pharmaceutical industry… not coffee shops,” he told Reuters. Yet without addressing the economic realities driving farmers toward illegality, Morocco’s cannabis experiment may struggle to achieve its transformative ambitions in the Rif region.