In May 2021, the Moroccan parliament adopted Law 13-21 on the legal use of cannabis for medical, cosmetic and industrial purposes. The government has stressed this process as a strategic opportunity to position itself within a booming global licit cannabis industry and a mechanism to improve farmers’ livelihoods and protect them from drug trafficking networks.

This event is aimed at assessing the potential impacts of this process on illicit cannabis markets in northern Morocco and on drug trafficking networks. Key questions will include:

• How will the state challenge the trafficking networks’ influence over the cultivation process and isolate them from the cannabis economy?

• What are the challenges and opportunities to break existing ties between small cultivators and trafficking networks?

• How are traffickers adapting in advance of the regularisation process?

Subscribe to the GI-TOC North Africa and the Sahel Observatory (NAS-Obs) mailing list to stay updated on our upcoming publications and initiatives.