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Tetouan buying hash

Trans-Mediterranean drug trafficking from Morocco has grown in line with European consumption, but now also provides the infrastructure for smuggling people and consumer goods. Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy reports. Most of the hashish produced in Morocco is sold abroad, overwhelmingly in Europe, although there is a significant domestic consumer market for the drug. European consumption has long acted as a pull factor on Moroccan hashish production. Spain and France not only contributed to the development of cannabis cultivation in Morocco during the colonial era but, more recently, their respective growing hashish consumer markets have also spurred production in the Cherifian kingdom. The parallel increases of hashish production in Morocco and of hashish consumption in Europe are attested to by the rise in European seizures of Moroccan hashish noted in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report , which reports that seizures have risen from about tonnes in to tonnes in In , out of global cannabis resin seizures of 1, tonnes, were seized in Europe and 96 in Morocco. That Spain seizes that much hashish is evidence of the importance of the Spanish territory as a transit zone for Moroccan hashish. It is also most likely a legacy from when Spain and France split the Moroccan kingdom in two protectorates in , when Spain ruled over the northern half of the country and granted the right to cultivate cannabis to a few tribes. It is therefore worth noting that the former colonial powers that held sway over Morocco are most directly concerned about Moroccan hashish trafficking and consumption. Although all of the hashish consumed in Spain and 82 per cent of that consumed in France is estimated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to be of Moroccan origin, the two countries are far from being the only European consumers of Moroccan hashish. Eighty per cent of the cannabis resin destined for the West and Central European markets is estimated to originate in Morocco, and national markets such as those of Portugal, Sweden, Belgium and the Czech Republic, among others, are overwhelmingly dominated by Moroccan hashish. In accord with a geographical logic, most Moroccan hashish consumed or transiting in France comes by way of Spain, mostly by road: most French seizures are conducted at the Spanish border. Also, due to the central location of France within Europe, less Moroccan hashish is imported from the Netherlands to France than from France to the Netherlands. As many seizures have shown during the last decades, most large shipments of Moroccan hashish are exported from Morocco across the Mediterranean Sea aboard fishing vessels and private yachts. According to the same report, the primary zone of export for Moroccan hashish is located around Martil, Oued Laou and Bou Ahmed on the Mediterranean coast, although the bigger ports of Nador, Tetouan, Tangier and Larache are also used by hashish traffickers. However, according to the Spanish press, the routes of entry of hashish into Spain have recently diversified due to the use of faster boats with a wider range. Important quantities have also been seized as far north as the Ebro river delta. Traffickers also export hashish concealed in trucks and cars embarked on ferries leaving from the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla or from Tangier. It also seems that large quantities are increasingly sent to West Africa before being exported to Europe. Recent seizures of cocaine and hashish packed together and in the same manner were made in Morocco and in Spain. This suggests that Colombian drug traffickers have allied themselves to Moroccan counterparts and either now ship cocaine directly to Morocco, or store it temporarily in Mauritania. Some Moroccan hashish is also exported to Algeria, via the Oujda-Maghnia road, along which contraband and human smuggling also takes place. The high level of drug trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea, where most transportation of hashish still occurs, implies that drug traffickers benefit from both low-level and high-level protection and complicity among some Moroccan authorities, a reality that more than one decade of arrests and trials have gradually confirmed. As is the case in all countries producing agriculture-based illicit drugs, farmers are very rarely directly involved in drug trafficking activities. This is also the case in Morocco, where very few cannabis growers from the Rif have the resources and connections required to ship hashish to the main ports of the Mediterranean coast, let alone across the sea to Spain. Most frequently, what traffickers and smugglers buy is the transit of their cargo, no matter what the cargo is. As recent important European seizures of hashish in Moroccan seafood exports confirm, both legal and illegal goods can be traded on the same routes or even together in the same cargo, something that is, of course, made easier by the marked increase in movements of goods by land, sea and even air, which has occurred globally during the last few decades. The Rif economy depends on a huge contraband trade that feeds off growing unemployment and pauperisation now that outmigration opportunities to Europe have been all but suppressed by strict immigration policies within the European Union. Lack of water, devastating land erosion, the highest unemployment rates in the country and political marginality have rendered this region incapable of sustaining its growing population. Contraband smuggling occurs via the same ports used for hashish trafficking, although, of course, in a reverse direction. The three most important entry points for smuggled goods are the two Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and along the Algerian border around Oujda. Smuggled goods are numerous and range from cosmetics, tires and detergents, to gasoline and processed foodstuffs. According to the findings of an American Chamber of Commerce workshop in Morocco in , the contraband economy provided work for 45, people, 75 per cent of whom were women, and generated annual sales revenues of 15 billion dirhams USD1. Moreover, it is estimated by the same source that every job created in the contraband business deprives the national economy of 10 legitimate jobs and that the industrial and agricultural production of Morocco suffers considerably from the unfair competition of smuggled goods. The economy of Morocco and, to a larger extent, of the Rif region, also depends heavily on outmigration and foreign remittances sent from Europe. With USD3. In , official remittances represented 6. They also exceed the value of direct foreign investments, which are also much more unstable. In Between Morocco and Spain. During the early s, migrant smuggling on small open boats, a phenomenon called harraga, emerged in the area, and its socio-cultural and economic effects soon became visible all over northern and north central Morocco and in Andalusia, Murcia and Catalonia in Spain. The new immigration policy transformed migrants into profitable goods, which in many cases were more advantageous than hashish for the smugglers: the profit was guaranteed even if the boats failed to reach the Spanish coast. The migrants were also often more easily fooled than professionals in the drug business. In Larache province, the cheapest and most popular method is to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in pateras, small five- to seven-metre fishing boats. Quite often, illegal migrants smuggled to Europe are sent aboard pateras along with some hashish. The importance of the contraband economy and illegal migration clearly shows that hashish trafficking, while vital for the Rif region, is far from being sufficient to sustain its economy. Since the mids, a worsening economic situation in the Rif has pushed many people to migrate to Europe and immigrants from the Rif region have come to make up the vast majority of Moroccans settled legally or illegally in Spain. Clearly, the Rif region depends on a complex economy of illegal trades, made up by hashish trafficking, widespread contraband and illegal migration, three activities that have grown together since the mids. The economic development of the Rif is therefore an essential and urgent goal for the European Union EU , if its leaders are willing to reduce people smuggling and hashish trafficking from Morocco. The same could well be said of hashish production and trafficking if the worsening context of the Rif region and the growing European consumption were to be considered alone. However, the cannabis economy is an altogether different problem, since the ecological and legal contexts threaten an activity that is vital for the Rif economy. Therefore, a massive effort to develop the economy of the Rif region must be carried out by Morocco and the EU if its socio-economic and political stability is to be improved or even maintained. After the UN Office on Drugs and Crime revealed in its Cannabis Survey that cannabis was cultivated on , hectares in Morocco in , cultivation reportedly dropped by 10 per cent in , to , hectares. Many direct and indirect factors can explain this cultivation decrease after years of rapid expansion. Moroccan authorities therefore felt compelled to start acting, as is attested to not only by the eradication measures undertaken in some parts of the Rif region from on, but also by the cultivation interdiction pronounced in many areas by the authorities. However, while the Moroccan authorities have not conducted large eradication operations in the Rif region itself, they have carried out a few monitoring actions between 26 June and 17 July to the west of the region, in the province of Larache. The Moroccan press reported that at least 3, hectares of cannabis have been eradicated in the province of Larache. The eradication campaign was directed by the governor of Larache, who declared that he obeyed government orders and that a public awareness campaign had been carried out in the mosques and souks of the province. However, as previous eradication threats had been numerous and, say most farmers, clearly formulated so that tolerance by some officials could be bought, most farmers did not take the warning seriously. Eradication was nonetheless carried out, right before the harvest season and without any compensation provided to the targeted farmers. Notwithstanding the fact that eradication efforts have been shown to fail and, even worse, to be counterproductive, in Asia as well as in Latin America, the Moroccan authorities have resorted to a purely law enforcement-oriented policy without implementing any economic or development measures to help cannabis farmers cope with the sudden loss of income. The Agency for the Development of the Northern Provinces is supposed to conduct alternative development projects in the areas targeted by the eradication measures. But, so far, more than three months after the eradication campaign, no economic help has been received by the farmers even though experience from other regions of the world where illicit crops are grown clearly indicates that eradication is counterproductive if alternative development or alternative livelihood programmes are not set up and operative before eradication measures are resorted to. It must be noted that traditionally, cannabis cultivation is either tacitly authorised or expressly forbidden by Moroccan authorities throughout the Rif region on a yearly basis so that both its geographical spread and its total acreage is controlled and, to some extent, contained. Only such control can actually explain why entire valleys are covered with cannabis one year and void of it the following year. It is evident that all the cannabis farmers of a given valley could not have decided all at once and on their own to plant or not to plant cannabis. Individual cannabis farmers would have little reason otherwise to stop what is their most lucrative activity. In , many douars, or villages, in Chefchaouen province did not grow cannabis because they had been told not to by the local authorities. Every year, in each douar, the mokadem informs the population of the authorisation or interdiction to cultivate cannabis and reports about it to its hierarchy. There is no doubt that Moroccan authorities have every means to monitor cannabis cultivation across the country. Therefore, while cannabis cultivation is clearly illegal in Morocco, it has obviously been largely tolerated by the state since its independence in and its expansion has been condoned, and to an extent controlled, by the authorities. Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy holds a Ph. Trafficking from Morocco As many seizures have shown during the last decades, most large shipments of Moroccan hashish are exported from Morocco across the Mediterranean Sea aboard fishing vessels and private yachts. Eradication and prohibition After the UN Office on Drugs and Crime revealed in its Cannabis Survey that cannabis was cultivated on , hectares in Morocco in , cultivation reportedly dropped by 10 per cent in , to , hectares. View all posts. Read more. Publication list Photography Categories About. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.

Kif in the Rif: Truths about Hashish in Morocco

Tetouan buying hash

The humidity had infiltrated the wall where a framed portrait of King Mohammed VI hung; the peeling paint was hastily covered over with a Moroccan flag in anticipation of the visitors from the capital who were filing into the hall and mounting the dais. There was an uneasy tension in the air as Mohamed El-Guerrouj, polished in a tailored suit and dark-rimmed glasses, took to the podium to address the crowd. El-Guerrouj, a longtime politician with an academic career in agriculture development, was chosen by the palace last year to lead the newly established Moroccan state cannabis agency, which goes by the French acronym ANRAC. That the same government that forced his family into precarity and labeled them as outlaws now wants to partner with them has left Omar skeptical; he and other farmers worry that they will be cut out of the profits as the system becomes more regulated and multinational organizations control more of the means of production and supply chain. At parties in Ibiza and in dorm rooms in The Hague, every day tens of thousands of Europeans light up cannabis farmed on the rocky slopes of the Rif. Around nearly every corner in the small mountain town lurk young men slyly selling hand rolled cigarettes of kif — Beldiya mixed with tobacco — or gummy bricks of hash. In tucked-away cafes tourists can get a taste of how locals smoke Beldiya — in a long terracotta and wood pipe, interspersed with sips of mint tea. The bulk of the profits lands in the pockets of smugglers who transport the crop out of the Rif and into markets across North Africa and Europe. For the estimated 90, families who rely solely on cannabis crops for their income, the take-home pay is meager. A dual Moroccan-Spanish national, he came up in the rough neighborhoods of Tetouan, a town in the north of the country, and cut his teeth selling illegal tobacco. By the early s, he ran the largest cannabis trafficking ring in the country and controlled the drug trade between Spain and Rabat using Zodiac boats. His arrest in was heralded by authorities but mourned by some locals in the Rif, where he had for decades whitewashed drug money with generous donations to struggling families and opened businesses that provided work opportunities for locals. The trafficking rings themselves provide employment to young people in a region where many families struggle and jobs are scarce. Even some small farmers, faced with the rising cost of fertilizers and water for their fields, have abandoned their crops to join trafficking rings, Omar explained. The legalization and regulation of cannabis would disrupt an entire shadow economy — one that, even with the promised profits from the government, could be hard to replace. There are also no guarantees that the profits from the bright cannabis future that Morocco is projecting will end up in the pockets of those who need it most. The new law, which governs all aspects of cannabis regularization — from cultivation conditions to the import of seeds and the export of products — is light on details about the financial aspects of profit sharing. The ambiguity is fueling frustration and deepening mistrust between the farmers and the government. ANRAC requires farmers to create cooperatives to sell the crops to certified buyers, such as pharmaceutical companies. Farmers have to give their entire crop to the cooperative to participate, but the agency has yet to announce what the price is per kilogram for their crops, and it has growers nervous. While only farmers will be allowed to import and export seeds and cannabis plants, the transformation of that cannabis into medical, pharmaceutical and industrial goods will be in the hands of larger corporations. The vetting process has been slow, and to date only 40 permits have been granted. Farmers worry multinationals will begin buying up land in the Rif to control the entire supply chain, pushing them off their ancestral lands and out of the business their families rely on. And it seems they will be able to do so. Despite legalizing the growing of cannabis for pharmaceutical and industrial use, Morocco has retained a strict ban on production for recreational use — a demand that is not going away, either in the country or internationally. Opportunities for traffickers will persist, creating a shadow market that could drive the cost of recreational hash down, further hammering the local community, and small producers who grow for the local market will continue to be pursued as outlaws, even while multinationals encroach on their land. El-Guerrouj and ANRAC, which is short-staffed and working on tightened timelines, admits to not having all the answers yet. The first step, the agency said, is launching a bid for proposals to conduct a study aimed at developing a year strategic plan for the legal use of cannabis. But while the bureaucratic wheels turn slowly, more nimble forces are drafting strategic plans of their own. The mood at the Officine Expo: Pharma Africa summit in Marrakesh this past February was effusive as officials and entrepreneurs pitched the potential of cannabis to the attendees. Reps from pharma companies, potential investors and medical researchers gathered in a conference hall at a five-star resort to hear presentations on the legalization process and the future of the once-banned crop. There were panels on its use in cancer research, the quality of local varieties and its marketability. Among the attendees was Khalid El-Attaoui, the deputy managing director of Axess Pharma, one of the companies vying for a chance to transform Rifi crops into everything from cancer drugs to cannabis soft drinks and chocolate. Sitting at the back of the hall, Abdellatif Adebibe, a local figure involved in pro-cannabis legalization, was markedly unimpressed as he listened to the visions of a capitalist cannabis utopia the heads of Big Pharma painted for the crowd. For 25 years, Adebibe led the fight for legalization in Morocco from his own fields in Ketama, the mecca of cannabis. As part of his campaign, Adebibe traveled around Europe and Africa telling the story of his father, who once fought against Spanish colonization only to find himself post-independence fighting a new battle: his right for dignity as he worked his cannabis land — without being perceived as a criminal. The year-old activist was not among those invited to speak at the conference, but when the floor opened for questions, he rose to take the microphone and excoriated the politicians and businesspeople in the crowd. In French, he detailed what he called the hypocrisy of the state in crafting the new legalization. When Adebibe finished, an uneasy air fell on the hall; a few shy claps rose from the crowd. He stood, waiting for a reply from the shocked, silent officials and businesspeople sitting on the stage. Mohamed Benamar, a consultant for ANRAC, doused the tensions with assurances that the king himself is quite concerned with the situation of Rifi farmers and that the state is prioritizing their interests over all other aspects. But for Adebibe, it was mere platitudes. As long as the farmers and officials were standing on opposing sides of the hall, a reconciliation would be meaningless. Latest See all. Israel Killed Nasrallah. Read More See all. Sign up to our newsletter.

Tetouan buying hash