Cannabis Freedom IndexWestern Sahara13
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Western Sahara

Africa

13/100

Prohibition

Not ranked: disputed territory
would rank #69 among countries

In the Moroccan-held part, Morocco's 1974 narcotics law applies: five to ten years for illicit possession, up to a year for use. The 2021 legal-cannabis law licenses growing only in the Rif. The territory is a route for Moroccan resin heading south, with tonnes seized and burned.

Recreational: IllegalMedical: Limited
Industry: None

Disputed territory. Morocco controls about 70% of Western Sahara, including all major cities and the coast, and applies its own law there; the Polisario Front holds the rest east of the berm. Its status is unresolved, and most countries recognise neither side's sovereignty. See also 🇲🇦 Morocco.

In short all countries →

A rough guide read from the scores and the rules below, not legal advice. The details and the exceptions are in each segment: select an answer to jump to it.

Cannabis in Western Sahara not part of the score · all 3 datasets ↓

Who uses it

Perhaps 1 in 10

people aged 15–64 (assumed) in Western Sahara used cannabis in the past year: about 40,000 people.

Past year
10.5%
Africa median
3.1%

This site’s estimate: there is no national survey.

Source Past-year cannabis use among people aged 15–64 (assumed). This site's figure: there is no survey of Western Sahara alone, so Morocco's rate from its 2017 survey is applied to an estimate of the people aged 15–64 here.
Survey ages and years vary, and some surveys include children. Rates are not age-standardised; do not compare countries directly.
Morocco's figure from the UNODC World Drug Report 2026; the population aged 15–64 is this place's total times Morocco's share of those ages. Population from the World Bank, aged 15–64. The whole dataset →

Score breakdown 13/100 · how the scores are made

Possession 11.5Personal cultivation 11.1Punishment & enforcement 22.1Sharing & gifting 10.8Consumption 21.3Legal access 10.5
Western SaharaWorld average
Possession · 25%1/10
adds 2.5 of 25 points · world average 1.5

In the Moroccan-administered part, Article 2 of Morocco's 1974 law punishes illicit possession, import, production and transport with five to ten years and a 5,000–50,000 dirham fine, with no quantity threshold.[1][2] Article 8's two-month-to-one-year term concerns illicit use.[1]

AmountWhat happensPunishmentFine
Illicit possession (Article 2)No quantity thresholdCriminalPossession5–10 yearsMAD 5,000 – MAD 50,000
Use (Article 8)Prison, fine, or either aloneCriminalPersonal use2 months – 1 yearMAD 500 – MAD 5,000
Personal cultivation · 25%1/10
adds 2.5 of 25 points · world average 1.1

Unlicensed growing carries five to ten years under the 1974 law; Morocco's 2021 Law 13-21 licenses cultivation only in the provinces fixed by decree, all in the north, so no licensed growing exists in Western Sahara.[1][3][4]

AmountWhat happensPunishmentFine
Unlicensed cultivation or productionCriminalCultivation5–10 yearsMAD 5,000 – MAD 50,000
Punishment & enforcement · 20%2/10
adds 4.0 of 20 points · world average 2.1

Moroccan forces seize and destroy large resin consignments crossing the territory: 12 tonnes of resin seized across the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region were burned on 1 July 2020, and the army stopped about six tonnes in four vehicles at Oum Dreyga on 13 February 2022.[5][6]

Sharing & gifting · 10%1/10
adds 1.0 of 10 points · world average 0.8

Article 3 of the 1974 law punishes facilitating another person's use, paid or free, with two to ten years and a fine of up to 500,000 dirhams.[1]

Consumption · 10%2/10
adds 2.0 of 10 points · world average 1.3

Illicit use carries two months to one year in prison and a 500–5,000 dirham fine, or either alone, under Article 8 of the 1974 law, as in the rest of Morocco.[1] No source describes the rules applied in the Polisario-held zone.

Legal access · 10%1/10
adds 1.0 of 10 points · world average 0.5

Medical cannabis products licensed under Morocco's Law 13-21 are a national framework; there is no Western Sahara-specific route.[3]

Context not part of the score · every country, by topic →

Medical cannabisWhat this covers How patients get cannabis as medicine: who qualifies, who prescribes, what forms there are and what it costsSelect for every country
Medical: Limited

Moroccan medical cannabis rules under Law 13-21 apply nationally in the Moroccan-held part; no local patient route is documented.[3]

Cannabis industryWhat this covers The legal commercial sector: who may grow, process and sell for profit, and on what termsSelect for every country
Industry: None

Licensed cannabis cultivation under Law 13-21 is limited to northern provinces fixed by decree; the resin seized in Western Sahara is in transit from the north.[4][6]

Arrests and prisonersWhat this covers Published counts of arrests, offences, convictions and prisonersSelect for every country

Seizures are counted in tonnes: 12 tonnes of resin burned in Laayoune on 1 July 2020, and about six tonnes stopped at Oum Dreyga in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region on 13 February 2022.[5][6]

Beyond the penaltyWhat this covers What follows a person beyond the punishment itself: records, drug registers, lost licences, jobs, deportationSelect for every country

Convictions follow Morocco's 1974 law, with five to ten years for possession and trafficking offences and up to a year for use.[1]

Crossing the border

Taking cannabis into or out of Western Sahara is a separate offence from possessing it, normally charged as smuggling or trafficking, with far heavier penalties. That holds almost everywhere, including between two places where cannabis is legal.

A prescription or medical card from another country is generally not recognised. Travellers who need a cannabis-based medicine should ask Western Sahara's embassy before travelling.[7]

General guidance that applies to almost every country, not a check of Western Sahara's customs rules.

Datasets not part of the score

What other organisations publish about Western Sahara, and where it stands among the countries each one covers. Each dataset has a page of its own, with a world map and every country's figure.

Use

  1. UNODC

    Cannabis use

    10.47%of people aged 15–64 (assumed)

    40,000 people · computed here: the median of surveyed countries in the region, or the figure of the country a territory is part of

    Source Survey ages and years vary, and some surveys include children. Rates are not age-standardised; do not compare countries directly.

Society

  1. Our World in Data, World Bank · 2023

    Population

    579,729people in 2023

    Higher than 15% of 196 countriesLowestHighest

Sources hover a number in the text to see its source

Cited
7
Websites
5
Last reviewed

Most cited

  1. anrac.gov.ma2
  2. moroccoworldnews.com2
  3. digitallibrary.un.org1
  4. en.wikipedia.org1
  5. incb.org1
All 7 sources
  1. Morocco — Dahir 1-73-282 of 21 May 1974 on narcotic drugs, republished by the UNAnnex, articles 1–3 and 8: possession five to ten years; use two months to one year; facilitation two to ten years.archived
  2. Wikipedia — Western SaharaPolisario controls about 30%; the remaining 70%, including almost all of the coast and all major cities, is held by Morocco.
  3. Morocco — Law 13-21 of 14 July 2021 on the legal uses of cannabis (ANRAC)archived
  4. ANRAC — Implementing decrees (Decree 2-22-159 of 18 March 2022 and related texts)archived
  5. Morocco World News — Police incinerate 12 tons of cannabis in Laayoune (2 July 2020)
  6. Morocco World News — Police seize 6 tonnes of cannabis resin in southern Morocco (14 February 2022)
  7. International Narcotics Control Board — Travellers carrying medicines containing controlled substances
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