Morocco

Morocco will legalize the cultivation, export and sale of cannabis for medical purposes. The government hopes that this will help the poor farmers in the northern Rif mountains.   Recreational use of the soft drug remains prohibited. The move is made possible because cannabis was removed from the UN's list of the most dangerous drugs in December. As a result, the production and trade of hash and weed are legal under international law for medical use and for scientific purposes. Cannabis is still on another list of drugs that are "highly addictive and susceptible to abuse". The Moroccan government is expected to approve the bill next week, after which parliament's approval is still required. The aim is not only to support farmers but also to ward off drug smugglers. An agency will ...

The quarantine that the Moroccan authorities placed eight cities in early this week has led to nearly two hundred road accidents, according to figures published Wednesday.   In the panic caused by the announcement, many people set out to get to or leave a specific city soon. In traffic this led to enormous traffic jams and numerous crashes on Sunday and Monday, resulting in fifteen deaths and more than three hundred injured, including nearly twenty seriously injured. The Ministry of Transport notes that the number of road casualties is not very much higher than 'normal' at this time of the year. The government suddenly came on Sunday evening with the quarantine measure for the eight cities including Casablanca, Marrakesh and Tangier. This was in the run-up to the Islamic festival...