Rabat — The first meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis Activities (ANRAC) was held on Thursday, 2 June 2022 in Rabat, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, and this in accordance with the provisions of Law 13.21 on the legal uses of cannabis.

ANRAC ensures the implementation of the strategy of the State in the field of the cultivation, the production, the manufacture, the transformation, the marketing, the export of the cannabis and the importation of its products for medical, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes, said a statement by the Ministry of the Interior.

The Agency is also responsible for regulating and monitoring and controlling all operations relating to cannabis and its legal uses, in accordance with the Kingdom’s international commitments, as well as ensuring the organization and development of the various stages of this activity, from the production of seeds to the marketing of the final product, to support research on the use of cannabis in medical, cosmetic and industrial fields, in addition to the simplification of administrative procedures in coordination with the relevant administrative authorities, as well as the orientation of illegal activities towards legal, sustainable and income-generating activities.

The agenda of this meeting covered several aspects, including the approval of the organizational chart of the Agency and the status of its staff, as well as its budget for 2022, added the same source.

The action plan of the Agency for the year 2022 includes several axes, including the adoption of specifications setting the technical criteria for the activities of cultivation, production, processing and industrialization of cannabis, as well as its seeds and plants, marketing, export and import of these products for industrial purposes, while initiating the procedures for granting licenses to national and international operators in the industry of medical and industrial cannabis, seed companies, nurseries, transport companies, in addition to the creation of the first cooperatives for processing and industrialization of local products whose members are local farmers, added the statement.

The program of legal use of cannabis, launched by our country through the publication of the aforementioned law, has fundamental objectives including the establishment of a legal framework to develop the channels of medical and industrial use of cannabis in accordance with the international commitments of the Kingdom and the exploitation of opportunities that this market offers to attract international operators, support of investment in the processing and industrialization of cannabis products, as well as the gradual reorientation of environmentally destructive illegal cultivation towards sustainable legal activities that generate value and employment opportunities.

The program’s goals also include the preservation of the national heritage and its consolidation, as well as the creation of a rigorous system of monitoring and control to prevent the arrival on the market of illegal cannabis and its derivatives.

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