Morocco to Construct Cannabis Research Laboratory in Al Hoceima
10-Nov-22 04:58:42
A local agency in charge of promoting the development in the northern region launched a call for tenders for the construction of the facility.
Rabat - The Agency for the Promotion and Development of the North (APDN) has launched a call for tenders for the construction of a research laboratory for the country’s budding legal cannabis sector in the province of Al Hoceima, northern Morocco.
The project, which is part of the territorial development program for Al Hoceima, Manarat Al Moutawassit, will have a budget of nearly MAD 1.6 million.
The facility is set to host a research laboratory, a fertilizer store, a warehouse for chemical products, and administrative offices, among others.
The call for tenders came after the National Agency for Regulation of Cannabis-Related Activities (ANRAC) announced that it issued 10 official authorizations for the exercise of cannabis processing and manufacturing activities.
The agency is also expected to start authorizing farmers that meet certain requirements, to allow them to cultivate and produce legal cannabis within the framework of agricultural cooperatives.
In October, Morocco’s Consultative Association for the Use of Cannabis (AMCUS) called for measures to support investment in the processing and production of cannabis in the country. The association also called on local and international licensed actors to support research to promote the use of cannabis in medical, cosmetic, and industrial fields.
In 2021, Morocco adopted bill 13-21, which made the North African country one of the first in Africa to permit the use of cannabis for medical and therapeutic purposes.
The adoption of the bill made the North African country the only member of the UN Commission of Narcotics Drugs (NCD) in the Middle East and North Africa to vote for removing cannabis as a UN Schedule IV categorized drug.
Morocco’s government aims to harvest the benefits of a nascent legal cannabis industry, while continuing to crack down on its vast untaxed illicit production, which supplies an estimated 70% of the European market.
SOURCE: MOROCCO WORLD NEWS