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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 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, for example, notes that in
France the « lifetime prevalence rates for cannabis use among adults aged between 15
and 64 increased from 21.9 per cent in 1999 to 26.2 per cent in 2002″.
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 2005, which reports that seizures have risen
from about 200 tonnes in 1985 to 950 tonnes in 2003.
In 2003, out of global cannabis resin seizures of 1,361 tonnes, 950 were seized in Europe
and 96 in Morocco. France is the world's fifth highest-ranking country in terms of hashish
seizures (six per cent). Spain, which is Morocco's closest European neighbour, seized most of
the world's hashish in 2003: 727 tonnes, that is, 53 per cent of global seizures and 76
per cent of European seizures. 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 1912, 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.
Trafficking from Morocco
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. Drug smugglers are
now reaching provinces such as Huelva, Almería and Murcia y Valencia, where seizures have
multiplied. 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. According to the Observatoire
Français des Drogues et des Toxicomanies report, and as shown by recent seizures conducted
in Europe, Moroccan hashish is also being sent southward by truck to the Atlantic port
of Agadir, to Casablanca and Essaouira, from where it is exported to the Netherlands, Belgium,
Germany, the UK and, of course, Spain.