Moroccan Marijuana Fix Sought to Cultivate Exports

At least 800,000 Moroccans live off illegal marijuana cultivation, generating annual sales estimated at $10 billion, or 10 percent of the economy, according to the Moroccan Network for the Industrial and Medicinal use of Marijuana, a local charity. Photographer: Abdelhak Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Mustapha Tahiri, a cannabis farmer in northern Morocco, looks forward to the day he can sell his crop without worrying about being jailed. If lawmakers in the Islamist-led government have their way, that isn’t too far off.

“I’d be a lot happier if the state leaves us alone, stops the arrests and lets us grow the herb,” said Tahiri, a father of seven whose house in the village of Beni Gmil was raided by anti-drug security forces last year. He said he’d be willing to sell his cannabis resin for 7,500 dirhams ($886) per kilo, about half of what he is now getting from middlemen.

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URL: 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-25/moroccan-marijuana-fix-sought-to-cultivate-exports-economy