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Some Arab governments are rethinking harsh cannabis laws
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The Economist - In much of the Middle East and north Africa, where the law often lumps pot in with harder drugs, possession of a single joint can lead to jail. But some governments are acknowledging the harmful effects of their policies and thinking about reform.
The Moroccan authorities look at the issue from the other direction. Though the government bans the production of cannabis, its growth is tolerated in the Rif, a northern region that supplies Europe. “Travel around in some areas and you see the plants all over the place,” says Tom Blickman of the Transnational Institute, a research group. Ironically, a draft law that would legalise cannabis production countrywide for medical and industrial uses has worried the region’s growers. They fear that rich landowners or the government, which would collect the entire crop, could push them out of business.
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