Not only do the Moroccan authorities turn a blind eye towards tourists smoking hash, they turn a blind eye towards farmers growing Cannabis as well.Around 80% of all hash sold every year in Europe comes from the Rif mountains in northern Morocco. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in France, the Netherlands or Denmark, if you buy hashish in any one of those countries it probably comes from northern Morocco. The European Union isn’t very happy with that, but is not helping to solve the problem. In fact, the Union is part of the problem.The Rif is one of the poorest regions of Morocco and home to the Amazigh tribes, who have their own language and culture dating back thousands of years. I travelled in the Rif several times before and this time I was meeting some friends in Chefchouan, a beautiful little town situated in between mountains in the western part of the Rif. After I arrived in Chefchouan, I checked in at the Rif Hotel. It’s not hard to find a hotel, because there are so many of them. They’re all over the place. Chefchouan is very beautiful, and that’s one of the reasons so many tourists from all over the world pay the little town a visit, but beauty is not the only reason tourists visit Chefchouan and the Rif mountains.The Moroccan authorities are very keen on drawing more tourists to the country and tourists are treated very well in Morocco. That, of course, has a downside too. As I was enjoying a cup of traditional mint tea at my hotel, I saw some young tourists smoke hash on the hotel terrace in front of everybody. Apart from the fact hash can be bought everywhere in the Rif, it’s not respectful to smoke it wherever you want. Police officers and hotels, however are not saying much, because tourism is becoming more important for Morocco every year. They often turn a blind eye towards tourists smoking hash.Not only do the authorities turn a blind eye towards tourists smoking hash, they turn a blind eye towards farmers growing Cannabis (the plant from which weed and hash are made) as well. As we travelled deeper into the Rif mountains near the town of Ketama, everywhere you looked you could see Cannabis. Cannabis was planted alongside the road, on the mountains and in the fields for as far as the eye can see. In the Ketama area we could see farmers smoking hash on the roofs of their houses. They waved at us in a friendly way as the Cannabis plants were drying in the sun behind them on the roofs. My friend Samir told me he once stopped at a café in Ketama to get a cup of coffee when he was on his way to the northern port city of Al-Hoceima. When he entered the café he noticed everybody was stoned, from the waiter to the police officers and all the other guests. Welcome to Ketama!Amazigh farmers tried to grow other crops, but the European Union taxed the Moroccan tomatoes and oranges to protect its own farmers.The Moroccan government is not doing much to stop the growing of Cannabis because the Rif is an underdeveloped and very poor region of Morocco and the growing of Cannabis provides a lot of poor farmers with some income. For many it’s even their only income. They tried to grow other crops, but the European Union taxed the Moroccan tomatoes and oranges to protect its own farmers, and so many Amazigh farmers in the Rif started growing Cannabis. Putting a stop to growing Cannabis in the Rif would probably mean riots or even worse, because people have become dependent on Cannabis production. Too many people benefit from the Cannabis production to really deal with the production and the selling of it. If the European Union wants to put an end to all this they should offer the farmers of the Rif an alternative to growing Cannabis. They can’t expect the Moroccan authorities to deal with this problem all by themselves. The slow and relaxed pace in which officials in Brussels—the EU’s capital—are dealing with Cannabis production in the Rif, however, makes you wonder sometimes if some EU officials actually have some experience with products from the Rif—and I am not talking about tomatoes...//en.yabiladi.com/topics/experience-morocco-44-1366101-1366101.html#msg-1366101 Fri, 05 Jun 2026 23:36:50 +0200 Phorum 5.2.15