cannabis - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Morocco reports first legal cannabis harvest of 294 metric tons

MOROCCO'S first legal cannabis harvest was 294 metric tons in 2023 after the country approved its cultivation and export for medicine and industrial uses, cannabis regulator ANRAC said. The harvest was made by 32 cooperatives that brought together 430 farmers covering 277 hectares in the northern Rif mountain areas of Al Houceima, Taounat and Chefchaouen, ANRAC said in an email to Reuters. The United Nations drugs agency says about 47,000 hectares of the Rif are devoted to cannabis output, roughly a third of the amount in 2003 after government crackdowns. This year, the regulator is examining applications by 1,500 farmers…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Kush: what is this dangerous new West African drug that supposedly contains human bones?

NEWS

A new drug called kush is wreaking havoc in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone where it is estimated to kill around a dozen people each week and hospitalise thousands. The drug, taken mostly by men aged 18 to 25, causes people to fall asleep while walking, to fall over, to bang their heads against hard surfaces and to walk into moving traffic. MICHAEL COLE, Professor of Forensic Science, Anglia Ruskin University Kush should not be confused with the drug of the same name found in the US, which is a mixture of “an ever-changing host of chemicals” sprayed on…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco’s bill to legalise cannabis divides growers

NEWS

AHMED ELJECHTIMI IN Morocco's impoverished Rif mountains, cannabis grower Mohamed El Mourabit hopes a plan to legalise the drug for some uses will raze what he calls a "wall of fear" surrounding farmers caught between poverty, traffickers and the law. The government last week approved a law to allow the cultivation, export and use of cannabis for medicine or industry. Parliament looks likely to ratify it, despite the issue dividing the governing coalition's biggest party. The change is meant to improve the lot of farmers in the often restive Rif region where it has been grown for decades, and to…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco to legalise cannabis for medical use

NEWS

MOROCCO plans to allow the farming, export and domestic sale of cannabis for medical and industrial use, the government said yesterday, a move it hopes will help impoverished farmers in the Rif mountains amid a growing legal global market for the drug. Past attempts to legalise cannabis farming in Morocco have failed, but the co-ruling PJD party, the largest in parliament, dropped its opposition after the U.N. drug agency removed the plant from its list of most tightly controlled narcotic drugs. The bill, which the cabinet is expected to approve next week, aims to improve farmers' incomes, protect them from…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Now for cannabis-infused drinks…

NEWS

SOUTH African wine, cider and spirits company Distell will soon be able to offer cannabidiol-infused drinks after taking a 20% stake in cannabis wellness business RETHINK, it has announced. Distell's investment gives it access to RETHINK's brand and product range, which includes oils, capsules and teas made from cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical compound found in the cannabis plant that is gaining popularity for uses ranging from relaxation to skin care. CBD is one of a variety of compounds found in the cannabis plant but studies have found it does not cause a 'high' or produce effects that could lead to…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Malawi ready to produce cannabis for industrial and medicinal use

BUSINESS

MALAWI is ready to start commercial production and processing of cannabis for medicinal and industrial use, the southern African country's new Cannabis Regulatory Authority has announced. Malawi's parliament passed a bill in February that makes it legal to cultivate and process cannabis for medicines and hemp fibre used in industry, but stops short of decriminalising recreational use. A growing number of countries around the world are either legalising or relaxing laws on cannabis as attitudes towards the drug change. They include several in southern Africa, including Zambia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The board chair of Malawi's regulator, Boniface Kadzamira, said his…