46 MiddleEast&Africa TheEconomistJuly10th 2021
CannabisinMorocco
Highinthe
mountains
F
ewcountriesproducemorecannabis
thanMorocco,wherelocalsmixitwith
tobaccoandcallitkif, meaning“supreme
happiness”.Thepleasure extendsto Eu
rope,wheremuchofthecannabisendsup.
FarmersintheRif,a poormountainousre
gioninnorthernMorocco,producemost
ofthesupply.Theyoperateina legalgrey
area.Growingcannabisisagainstthelaw
inMorocco,butit istoleratedintheRif.
Abillpassedbyparliament,butyetto
beapprovedbytheking,mayclarifythe
situation,atleastsomewhat.Itwouldle
galisethecultivation,useandexportof
cannabisformedicalandindustrialpur
poses(suchasforhempintextiles).The
proposedlaw,though,wouldnotlegalise
cannabisforrecreationaluse.Andit would
allowcannabisfarmingonlyincertainre
gionsofthecountry,suchastheRif.
The Rif has little else going for it.
“There’snoinfrastructure,noschools,no
hospitals,nothing—nothingexceptcanna
bis,”saysCharifAdardak,who headsan
ngothatpromotesdevelopmentintheRif.
It haslongbeena restiveplaceowingtothe
government’sneglectandwhatlocalscall
hogra(humiliatingtreatmentbythestate).
Thepreviousking,HassanII,crusheda re
voltthereinthe1950s.Hisson,Muham
madVI,hasbeenmoreconciliatory,back
ingdevelopmentprojectsintheregion.
ButKingMuhammad’splanshavenot
gotveryfar. LargeprotestsbyRiffiansinre
centyearshave attimesturnedviolent.
Theregionstillreliesoncannabisproduc
tion.Thegovernment,inturn,seesitstol
eranceofthetradeasa waytobuypeace.
OneofthereasonsMoroccoismoving
towardslegalisationnowisbecauseinDe
cembertheunremovedcannabisforme
dicinalusefromitslistofthemostdanger
ousdrugs.Theproposedlawwillimprove
thelotofRiffiansandfreethemfrominter
national drugsmuggling networks,says
AbdelouafiLaftit,Morocco’sinteriormin
ister.Regulatingthetrademayalsoallow
the government to curb environmental
damageintheRif,whichhassufferedfrom
deforestation and soil degradation as
farmershaveadoptednew,hybridstrains
ofcannabis.
ManycannabisfarmersintheRifthink
thegovernmentisblowingsmoke.Some
feartheywillberunoutofbusinessbycor
porationsorwellconnectedbusinessmen
whoarebetterabletonavigatetherules.
Farmers intheRif areunaccustomedto
growingcannabistothestrictlegalstan
dardsthatimportingcountriesoftenim
poseonthemedicinalsort.
Othersworryaboutfuturecompetition
fromotherregions.Thereisn’tenoughde
mandformedicalcannabistokeepeven
theRif’sfarmersinbusiness.Cannabisis
grownon73,000hectaresoflandinMo
rocco, says TomBlickman oftheTrans
nationalInstitute,a Dutchthinktank. De
mandformedicalcannabismightsupport
between5,000and8,000hectares.
Demandisgreaterforindustrialcanna
bis,butitisoflowervalue.Itsproduction
is “about quantitynotquality”, says Mr
Blickman.That’sbadfortheRif.Tucked
away inthemountains, theregion’sre
motenessandinaccessibilitymakeitan
idealplaceforillicitcannabisfarming.But
theproduction ofindustrial cannabisis
easierinflatareaswithbetterinfrastruc
turethatcansupportlargefarms.
PeopleintheRifarealsofrustratedthat
theproposedlawdoesnotprovideamnes
tyfortheroughly48,000farmerswhohave
cannabisrelatedarrestwarrantshanging
overthem.Some,though,seethelawasa
preludetolegalisationofrecreationalcan
nabis.ThatwouldmakemanyMoroccans
supremelyhappy. n
Apushtolegalisesomemarijuana
cultivationworriesfarmers
Tangier
ALGERIA
SPAIN
Rabat Cannabiscultivationarea
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
MOROCCO
MediterraneanSea
Source:GlobalInitiative
Ri
fm
ount
ains
100 km
More than a medicine
Eswatini
The king’s reply
T
habani nkomonyewas last seen alive
on May 8th. A few days later the body of
the 25yearold law student was found in a
field near Manzini in Eswatini. The police
say he died in a car crash. Friends and fam
ily say the police killed him.
Mr Nkomonye’s death has sparked prot
ests across the country of 1.2m people. On
June 29th, after demonstrations intensi
fied, the government announced a dusk
todawn curfew and shut off the internet.
Swazi journalists say that doctors have
confirmed at least 50 deaths at the hands of
security forces. The government says that
27 people have died and that its forces were
defending themselves and private proper
ty against “rioters and foreign agents”.
In many ways the protests are like those
elsewhere in Africa. “There are no jobs and
opportunities for young people,” says Xo
lani Maseko, the president of the union of
students. More than 46% of 15 to 24year
olds are unemployed, the thirdhighest
rate in the world. What distinguishes Es
watini is the protests’ target, King Mswati
III, Africa’s last absolute monarch.
That he rules at all is a historical curios
ity. Britain, the colonial power, left in 1968,
perfunctorily bequeathing a Westminster
style system. Five years later the then king,
Sobhuza II, revoked the constitution and
declared “supreme power”. After Sobhuza
died in 1982 elders of the ruling Dlamini
clan picked as heir his 14yearold illegiti
mate son, whom they hoped to control.
The future King Mswati III was brought in
to the royal kraal, says a confidant, and
told, “From now on you call your mother
‘Queen Mother’.” She had been a cleaner for
one of Sobhuza’s 65 wives, according to a
report published in 2013 by Freedom
House, an American thinktank. The boy
king was sent to boarding school in Eng
land, returning to sit on the throne in 1986.
Though analysts speculate about how
much the king himself calls the shots, the
monarchy certainly operates unchecked.
Mswati is immune from prosecution. Po
litical parties are banned. Opposition ac
tivists are jailed. Journalists are intimidat
ed; on July 4th reporters from New Frame,
a South African publication, were taken to
a police station and allegedly tortured with
plastic bags over their heads. The king (pic
tured on next page) appoints the prime
minister and other key officeholders.
Most Swazis are poor but the king’s for
tune, which in 2014 Forbesmagazine esti
MBABANE
Africa’s last absolute monarch cracks
down on pro-democracy protesters