Govt. Council Adopts Bill on Legal Use of Cannabis

Rabat – The Government Council, meeting Thursday via videoconference, under the chairmanship of the Head of Government, Saad Dine El Otmani, adopted Bill 13.21 on the legal use of cannabis.

Presented by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, the bill was developed in harmony with Morocco’s international commitment and is meant to devise a licensing system for all activities related to the cultivation, production, processing, transport, marketing, export, and import of cannabis, said Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, spokesperson of the Government, Saaid Amzazi, in a statement read out during a press briefing held at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting.

It intends to create a national agency responsible for coordination between all government departments, public institutions, national and international partners for the development of an agricultural and industrial sector dedicated to cannabis while strengthening control mechanisms, Amzazi said.

The bill is an opportunity for farmers to join agricultural cooperatives and manufacturing and exporting companies are obliged to receive the harvest. The bill also lays down penalties to deter transgressors of its provisions, the government spokesperson noted.