Morocco: 1974 and 2021 penalties, hemp, tables and 14 history entries

A pardon changed individual sentences, not the law; the 2021 licensing law had already moved the score.

The National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis-related Activities was created to licenseby Law 13-21 and given statutes by decree 2-21-642 of 31 August 2021; it became operational in 2022. It licenses legal growing for medical, cosmetic and industrial use. It, began taking applications in January 2023, and legal exports to Europe started in 2024.

ANRAC — Law 13-21 and implementing texts Wikipedia — Cannabis in Morocco

The 2021 law already carried the score; this established the regulator, not a new adult right.

1974-05-21

Morocco reaffirmssets the ban in its narcotics lawpenalties that still govern cannabis

New legislation on narcotic drugs restatedDahir 1-73-282 kept the prohibition of cannabis that had applied nationwide since 1956 ban and set the modern penalties: illicit possession, production, transport and export carried five to ten years and a 5,000–50,000 dirham fine, while use carried two months to one year and a 500–5,000 dirham fine, or either. Facilitating another person's use, paid or free, carried two to ten years and a fine of up to 500,000 dirhams.

Morocco — Dahir 1-73-282 of 21 May 1974 on narcotic drugs, republished by the UN Wikipedia — Cannabis in Morocco

The ban was already in force; this law codified its penalties, and the score timeline had already reached the floor.

Law 13-21 (2021) legalisedlicenses cultivation for medical, cosmetic and industrial use in the Rif provinces. Recreational kif remains illegal but is widely tolerated; thousands of growers were pardoned in 2024.

Unauthorised holding is prohibited separately from use. Article 2 of the 1974 law expressly punishes illicit possession, import, production, transport and export with five to ten years and a 5,000–50,000 dirham fine, with no quantity threshold.[@law1974] Article 1 preserves a separate two-to-five-year route for breaches of the 1922 poisons law, so small cases can be charged under either article.[@law1974] Article 8’'s lower two-month-to-one-year term concerns illicit use, with a 500–5,000 dirham fine or either penalty alone; it is not a universal statutory ceiling for possession.[@law1974] Traditional kif use is widely tolerated in the north, with uneven enforcement.[@idpc17,cms]

Illegal for personal use. Growing without a licence is lawful only forpunished under Article 2 of the 1974 law through Article 50 of Law 13-21, with five to ten years and a 5,000–50,000 dirham fine and no plant-count threshold.[@law1974,anrac_law] Licensed farmers may grow only in designated Rifthe provinces who join a cooperative and hold an authorisation from the cannabis agencyareas fixed by decree, selling theiras cooperative members who deliver the whole cropharvest to licensed processors.[@anrac_law,anrac_decrees] A licensed grower who goes outside the permitted area or quota faces three months to two years and a 5,000–100,000 dirham fine.[@anrac_law]

anraclaw1974, mapanrac_law, anrac_decrees

Users can be jailed, though often are not; traffickers face long sentences. The 2024 pardo … ear penalty; charging practice must not be inferred from the use offence alone.[@law1974] The 2025 police report counted 106,117 drug cases and 134,126 arrests, figures that cover all drugs.[@dgsn25]

cms, ata, law1974, dgsn25

Article 3 punishes facilitating another person’'s use, whether paid or free, with two to ten years and a 5,000–500,000 dirham fine; the minimum rises to five years where the user is 21 or younger.[@law1974] Article 2 separately punishes illicit holding and transport with five to ten years.[@law1974] The 2021 law routes unlicensed supply back to the 1974 penalties.[@anrac_law]

law1974, anrac_law

Article 8 punishes illicit use with two months to one year in prison and 500–5,000 dirhams, or either penalty alone.[@law1974] Under its conditions, accepting medically supervised detoxification can avoid prosecution.[@law1974] Use is tolerated in practice in much of the Rif.[@cms]

No legal adult-use source; the law of 2021 law explicitly excludes recreational use.[@anrac_law,map] Patients can obtain registered cannabis-based medicines through pharmacies, but there is no flower, home-grow or special-access scheme.[@anrac_med26] Four epilepsy medicines had market authorisation by October 2026.[@anrac_med26]

anrac_law, map, cmsanrac_med26

There is no legal recreational market. Traditional kif smoking is widely tolerated in the … authorised Rif growers selling their whole crop to licensed processors — not for users.[@anracanrac_law,map] [The 2024 pardon covered growers, not users.](/history/morocco-royal-pardon-2024/)

idpc17, cms, anracanrac_law, map

The Rif’'s kif economy is also its culture: cannabis ranks with the region’'s chief cash crops, smoked as a work stimulant that violates no religious sanction.[@josep … lishment habit, not rebellion — with no ritual or Sufi blessing attached; the 1959 growers’' confrontation with the government is part of the same story, see [the 1959 confrontation](/history/morocco-kif-cultivators-1959-confrontation/).[@joseph75]

Law 13-21 legalisedlicenses cultivation, processing, export and sale for medical, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes in Al Hoceima, Chefchaouen and Taounate.[@anrac_law,anrac_decrees] In 20242025 the agency issued overreported 5,318 farmers holding 5,492 cultivation permits, 3,000 authorisations141 hectares actually farmed by 4, most to small776 farmers, and a19,576 quintals of dried cannabis; 141 products were registered and seven export markets opened.[@mwn26] A royal pardon in 2024 cleared thousands of growers with past convictions or warrants.[@ata] In 2026 the agency revoked 1,490 licences, nearly 1,300 of them from growers.[@hesp26]

anrac_law, anrac_decrees, mwn26, ata, anrachesp26

Licensed medical, cosmetic and food-supplement products; THC above 1% only for pharmaceutical use.

map, cms

Cannabis-based medicines can be registered and sold through pharmacies; the domestic medicalby October 2026 four epilepsy medicines had market is youngauthorisation, three from Sothema and one from Pharma 5, and five medical societies had approved CBD prescribing protocols.[@anrac_med26] The regulator said more than 140 cannabis products were registered, but doctors still needed convincing to prescribe.[@anrac_med26] Reimbursement, dispensing volumes and patient numbers were not verified.[@anrac_med26]

map, ataanrac_med26

A drug conviction is a criminal record; the pardon removed that burden for many Rif farmers.[@ata] Foreigners can also face a residence ban of five to ten years and administrative expulsion.[@law1974]

ata, law1974

Under Law 13-21 importing or exporting cannabis seeds and plants needs an authorisation from the regulator ANRAC, and licence holders may bring in only seed the agency has approved.[@anrac_law] Certified lots must carry the variety's certification number and THC level.[@anrac_law] The first imported seed arrived in April 2023 and went to cooperatives in Al Hoceima and Chefchaouen.[@hesp23]

anrac_law, hesp23

Morocco is the world's biggest producer of cannabis resin according to the United Nations, and the illegal trade still dwarfs the legal one. Official figures[@afp24] The interior ministry put illegal cultivation at 5520,000627 hectares in 20192025, in a Rif economy on which up to 120down 85% from 134,000 families dependin 2003, while the legal area was 3,141 hectares; hashish from therethe figure is smuggled mainly to Europea government estimate.[@interior25] The ministry reported 344 tonnes of resin and 112 tonnes of raw cannabis seized in 2024, and the police reported about 170.8 tonnes of resin and derivatives in 2025.[@interior25,dgsn25] Official estimates of trafficking revenue fell from about 540 million dollars in the early 2000s to almost 350 million in 2020. The licensed medical and industrial sector created by the 2021 law is growing but small beside it: about 3,141 hectares farmed by 4,776 licensed growers in 2025, producing 19,576 quintals of dried cannabis, and the regulator withdrew 1,308 farming licences that year after inspections.[@afp24]

afp24, mwn26interior25, dgsn25

No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: unlicensed growing cannabis and supplying itcannabis to another person are both prohibited.[@anrac_law,law1974]

anracanrac_law, map, cmslaw1974

There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. Recreational possession and use are illegal under athe 1974 decreelaw, punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine; the licensed growing allowed since 2021 is for medical and industrial use only.[@law1974,anrac_law] A foreigner can also face a residence ban and expulsion.[@law1974]

cmslaw1974, mapanrac_law

The national police's report for 2025 counts 106,117 drug cases and 134,126 people arrested in them, 378 of them foreign nationals; the figures cover all drugs.[@dgsn25] Police seized nearlyabout 170.8 tonnes and 796 kg of cannabis resin and its derivatives during the year, against 1.7731 tonnes of cocaine and about 6 kg of heroin.[@dgsn25] Controlled deliveries run with Spain accounted for 55.471 tonnes of resin and 38 arrests.[@dgsn25] No cannabis-specific prosecution or conviction counts were published.[@dgsn25]

The government's July 2024 consolidation of Road Code 52-05, article 183, prohibits driving under the influence of narcotics or certain medicines after which driving is forbidden.[@road_code24] It provides six months– to one year in prison and MAD5,000–10,000, or either punishment, plus a court-ordered licence suspension of six months– to one year. Repetition; repetition within five years of a final judgment for similar conduct doubles both penalties and the suspension. The same article applies to instructors accompanying learners and refusal of the specified tests or checks.[@road_code24] Article 99 provides a six-point deduction for drug-influence driving or the listed refusals; it is distinct from the court suspension. Articles, and articles 213–214 distinguish screening from subsequentlater medical, clinical and biological checks after a positive result, refusal or inability to undergo screening. A[@road_code24] No numeric THC cutoff, or medical-cannabis exemption and amendments after this consolidation were notwas verified.[@road_code24]

The growers who beat the ban debate

Morocco — Law 13-21 of 14 July 2021 on the legal uses of cannabis (ANRAC) ANRAC — Implementing decrees (Decree 2-22-159 of 18 March 2022 and related texts) Morocco — Joint order 1297-22 of 12 May 2022 on THC limits ANRAC — Cannabis médical: le Maroc a les produits, reste à convaincre les médecins (8 June 2026) Hespress — Morocco cuts illegal cannabis cultivation by 85 percent, interior ministry reports (3 November 2025) Hespress — Morocco revokes 1,490 cannabis licences over regulatory violations (15 October 2026) Wikipedia — Cannabis in Morocco 11 unchanged

word kif · lang Moroccan Arabic · meaning cannabis, traditionally smoked in a sebsi pipe · atlas kif · sources joseph75

MAD

label Illicit possession (Article 2) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · fine min 5000 · fine 50000 · note No quantity threshold, label Use (Article 8) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · fine min 500 · fine 5000 · note Prison, fine, or either alone, label Breach through the 1922 poisons law (Article 1) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 2 years · prison 5 years · fine min 5000 · fine 50000 · note Overlapping charging route for small amounts; no published data on its use

MAD

label Unlicensed cultivation or production · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · fine min 5000 · fine 50000 · note No plant-count threshold, label Licensed grower outside the area or quota · treatment criminal · term Licence breach · prison min 3 months · prison 2 years · fine min 5000 · fine 100000

MAD

label Facilitating use, paid or free · treatment criminal · term Supply · prison min 2 years · prison 10 years · fine min 5000 · fine 500000 · note Minimum five years where the user is 21 or younger

MAD

label Use · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · fine min 500 · fine 5000 · note Prison, fine, or either alone; detoxification can avoid prosecution

limited

Registered cannabis medicines on prescription; no flower or recreational supply

high

Industrial and food cannabis is licensed under Law 13-21 at or below 1% THC; above 1% only medical and pharmaceutical use is allowed.[@anrac_law,anrac_order] There is no open hemp regime: every crop needs an ANRAC authorisation in the same three provinces.[@anrac_law,anrac_decrees] By March 2026, 109 CBD products — 50 supplements and 59 cosmetics — had been authorised and were sold at more than 600 points.[@anrac_med26] No separate fibre or textile licensing was verified.[@anrac_law]

anrac_law, anrac_order, anrac_decrees, anrac_med26