The green shoots of recovery? Morocco considers the legalisation of marijuana cultivation
At least 800,000 Moroccans live off illegal marijuana cultivation, generating annual sales estimated at $10bn, or 10 per cent of the economy, according to the Moroccan Network for the Industrial and Medicinal use of Marijuana, a local charity.
Morocco, with a population of 32 million, is Africa’s sixth-largest economy. Legalisation would allow farmers to sell to the government for medicinal and industrial purposes rather than to drug traffickers. That could boost exports and help reduce a trade deficit that widened to a record 197 billion dirhams last year, about 23 per cent of gross domestic product. It could also help pacify inhabitants of a historically restive region after Arab Spring uprisings toppled regimes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
Uruguay’s Marijuana Bill Faces Political, Economic Obstacles
If Uruguay’s proposal to regulate the production, sale and distribution of marijuana is properly implemented and overcomes political and economic hurdles, it could be the most important drug regulation experiment in decades. […]
Unlike in the Netherlands, where cannabis cultivation is still technically banned, this will legalize and regulate every step in the process of marijuana production and distribution. […]
It now appears set to pass the lower house in a July 31 vote with the support of the FA’s slim majority, despite the fact that public opinion remains mostly opposed to the measure.
The debate on this bill is going on now. It will then have to pass the Senate, which is likely.
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This is really annoying. A few weeks ago this was reported as a done deal so WTF?
I also find it annoying because public opinion in Uruguay is strongly against the proposal. I’m sure not going to excoriate State and local authorities in the U.S. that try to subvert the will of the people and then cheer that same behavior in Uruguay just because they’re implementing legislation that I like. That’s Know Nothing prohibitionist territory and I think those people and their hysterical rhetoric are a waste of perfectly good oxygen.
Until very recently, public opinion in the U.S. was against legalization of marijuana, and still is strongly against legalization of other drugs. I certainly was very much in favor of U.S. politicians legalizing drugs at that time, even though the public was against it.
Legalization is not just about majority rule. Legalization is about rights of the minority as well, not to mention the other negative aspects of criminalization.
What is galling about the authorities in the U.S. is that the evidence and human rights are on the side of what the majority of people currently think (regarding marijuana at least) and yet the authorities still oppose.
If the public in Uruguay are opposed, it may well be because of past propaganda. The fact that the politicians are willing to consider a different approach is, in my opinion, laudable.
I fear it is also not so black and white as that. There are reasons that the public may oppose that particular rule that have nothing at all to do with supporting prohibition. And I have to agree with Pete, the extension of the State into the affairs of our bodies is wrong, and majority opinion doesn’t make it right.
To do what is clearly wrong because of public opinion would make this an example of the tyranny of democracy.
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Speaking of “cracked” a couple of crims in Connecicut are charged in Federal Court because they robbed and killed someone over money from dealing cannabis. Not that I think these guys should walk free if convicted but get a load of 2 of their criminal charges: Conspiring to interfere and interfering with commerce by robbery.
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Feds-charge-two-in-marijuana-killing-4696289.php
I thought cannabis cultivation in Morocco was already legal – it’s certainly easily available in the form of hashish all over the country. And cheap!
In a world without cannabis prohibition, Moroccan hashish would be available (and Leb red, afghan, etc.) at prices far cheaper than locally-grown. And don;t get me started on COngolese weed (stratospheric sativas), thai stick, Durban poison, etc. etc.
Cannabis prohibition has created a protected local market with state-supported prices. Remove the prohibition and you get a global market and much diminished profitability for local producers.
I may even see this in my lifetime, but in the meanwhile………
Nah…they have historically had the ability to out produce other regions. Their techniques are antiquated, and the cost of shipping will bring the cost up. I for see regional production, much like we see with wines. With the vinyards of western Washington competition directly with the French for my Vino dollar.
And from what I heard, everyone was smoking back at the camps in Afghanistan . . . another Stanland deployment I missed and the Afghan troops were letting the Americans pick their own weed for $20 . . . like up to 2 and half ounces for $20 of the best Kush known to man . . . troops and Afghan soldiers driving around inside the camps hotboxing their vehicles . . . the first Afghan deployment I missed was in much larger FOB and the locals were throwing black ball of hash to our guys . . . they say when you’re up in the tower over loving miles of nothing for 12hrs a day, your eyes begin to see the same thing, which means you might miss something coming up, so Hash is used to stimulate the soldier (like coffee does) and keep the eyes focused and keep miles of nothing from being boring. I’ve lost count of all the stories of people telling me about how they’d just be walking and all of a sudden it would turn into a 3-8acre weed field . . . Kush as tall as 4ft. Somewhere there are a group of Afghan soldiers and police officers holding a partially crushed and folded Pepsi can and offering it to their friends saying, “This is how all the Americans smoke their marijuana.â€
Cannabis production will inevitably move to where the climate is right and the labour is cheap. That ain’t in a closet in Canada or the excited states. This will make control of supply and taxation much easier because legal importation a/la alcohol keeps the black market out. In fact, the cost of supply will probably be about 1/10 what it is today, and taxes will add significantly to the consumer’s end price without coming near the black market price. As the consumer moves toward the legal supply and the cops continue to harass the black market, in time the entire market will be legal and taxed. Compare with beer; anyone can brew a large amount of beer for their own use and avoid the high costs of legal beer. How many do so? Very few. Why? Because it requires work and people are lazy. The same will apply to the legal cannabis market. Just as with beer, there will still be a few die-hard growers who will soldier on growing for themselves more as a hobby than anything else. This will become a very tiny part of the market as it is with beer.
…as I read this I am sitting in the Micro-Brew capital of the world looking out my window at my neighbor’s vineyard…. *scratches head*
“I am sitting in the Micro-Brew capital of the world […]”
You moved to Portland?
They’re so concerned about the price steering people back to the black market, what about the requirement to register with the government before you can even make a purchase? I’d be concerned that in a year or 2 or 5, when a new government takes over and re-criminalizes, they’d have a handy list of all pot smokers in the country. I’d bet that few people will actually register with the government for the right to smoke legal weed. So, regardless of price or any other factors, I predict the registration requirement alone will doom the Uruguayan experiment.
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There is a complete show on NatGeo about the Moroccan hash trade and you get to watch them beat buds on a silkscreen stretched taut over a huge bowl that looks suspiciously like a wok.
I am sure they have a set number of strokes for each branch and when they reached it they threw them in the garbage.
The buyers purchased it in the powdered form and shaped it into the soles themselves,,,made my mouth water to be looking at 4 kilos of kief.
Yes, the USS Prohib is surely a sinking ship. Noise eminates from bulkheads as rivets, too old to fix, fall out. When her crew head for the lifeboats, they, too, will be found in disrepair. And you just know the Captain won’t do the right thing (go down with his ship). Hell, he’ll claim he knew nothing about the state of HIS ship. He’ll claim the sinking motion is only a distraction, a phony problem. We can only hope his crew listens to him.
Bill McKenna â€@wmckdc
New video for the BBC on the book “Rise of the Warrior Cop” by radleybalko #SWAT #WarOnDrugs #LawEnforcement
I started this a while back on Uruguay
These are some of todays twits…
☮ Zara Snapp â€@zarasnapp
We can take a deep breath now. Many congress people will speak today, but Perez was the deciding vote. Felicidades #Uruguay @RResponsableUY
☮ Zara Snapp â€@zarasnapp
Dario Perez is the congressman who’s vote is needed to pass the #marijuana legislation through Uruguyan Congress and on the the Senate.
☮ TransformDrugPolicy â€@TransformDrugs
Great news from Dario Perez in Uruguay congress. Regulation Bill now looking sset to pass by majority
☮ TransformDrugPolicy â€@TransformDrugs
certainly sounds like Dario Perez has been won over on the cannabis regulation bill. crucial – as his dissenting vote would derail it
☮ Pan-American Post â€@PanAmericanPost 7h
Although Dario Perez recognizes that “public opinion isn’t ideal,” he will give his vote. #RegulacionMarihuana WILL go forward in #Uruguay
☮ Pan-American Post â€@PanAmericanPost
Dario Perez says he wouldn’t approve the president’s first proposal, but applauds the FA lawmakers who have changed it, esp Bango and Sabini
☮ Pan-American Post â€@PanAmericanPost
Dario Perez, again stresses: “The important thing is that the problem will continue with or without the law.”
☮ Pan-American Post â€@PanAmericanPost
Dario Perez: “This bill seeks nothing more or less than a paradigm shift in the treatment of the problem.”
☮ Pan-American Post â€@PanAmericanPost
Dario Perez: “The real center of debate has been that if this bill passes, the 7 plagues of Egypt will pass through this country”
☮ TransformDrugPolicy â€@TransformDrugs
RT @PanAmericanPost: Dario Perez,who has the fate of the marijuana bill in his hands, has taken the floor.
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☮ Erowid Center â€@erowid
http://ow.ly/nw2r6
Uruguay Poised to Become First Country to Legalize Marijuana
☮ Ethan Nadelmann â€@ethannadelmann
http://shar.es/kNWwK
Uruguay Takes Historic Step Toward Becoming First Country to Legally Regulate
☮ Marijuana | Drug Policy Alliance
Uruguay’s House of Representatives just passed a bill to legalize marijuana! Kudos to @RResponsableUY for getting us here. Onto the Senate!
☮ Drug Policy Alliance â€@DrugPolicyNews http://bit.ly/1cqleNM
“Uruguay Takes Historic Step Toward Becoming First Country to Legally Regulate Marijuana” #NoMoreDrugWar
If it passes in the Senate, Uruguay will be the first country in the world to legally regulate production, distribution & sale of marijuana.
☮ Uruguay’s House of Representatives just passed a bill to legalize marijuana! Kudos to @RResponsableUY for getting us here. Onto the Senate!