US embassy cable - 05RABAT2468

UNCLAS RABAT 002468 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR INL, NEA/MAG 
JUSTICE FOR OIA, AFMLS, AND NDDS 
TREASURY FOR FINCEN 
DEA FOR OILS AND OFFICE OF DIVERSION CONTROL 
PARIS FOR DEA 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - CAPTION ADDED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, MO 
SUBJECT: 2005-2006 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY 
REPORT FOR MOROCCO PART I, DRUGS AND CHEMICAL DIVERSION 
CONTROL 
 
REF: SECSTATE 209558 
 
 I. Summary 
 
1.  Morocco continues to be a major producer and exporter of 
cannabis.  It produced an estimated 98,000 metric tons of 
cannabis in 2004, providing for potential cannabis resin 
(hashish) production of 2,760 metric tons, according to the 
second joint study on cannabis released in May 2005 by the 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and 
Morocco's Agency for the Promotion and the Economic and 
Social Development of the Northern Prefectures and Provinces 
of the Kingdom (APDN).  As of December 2005, the government 
of Morocco (GOM) was in the process of completing its 2005 
study on cannabis production.  Available information 
continues to indicate the United States is not a major 
recipient of drugs from Morocco.  According to the UNODC 
report, Morocco in 2004 succeeded in decreasing by 10 percent 
its land dedicated to cannabis cultivation to 120,500 
hectares, down from 134,000 hectares in 2003. The UNODC study 
also states that approximately 800,000 Moroccans (2.5 percent 
of the country's estimated 2004 population) were involved in 
cannabis cultivation.  Morocco's efforts to combat cannabis 
cultivation are made more difficult by limited short-term 
financial alternatives for those involved in its production. 
Morocco is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. 
 
II. Status of Country 
 
2.  Morocco consistently ranks among the world's largest 
producers and exporters of cannabis, and its cultivation and 
sale provide the economic base for much of the mountainous 
northern region of Morocco.  Only very small amounts of 
narcotics produced in or transiting through Morocco reach the 
United States.  According to the UNODC report, the illicit 
trade in Moroccan cannabis resin generates approximately $13 
billion a year. The narcotics trade remains a large source of 
hard currency.  Independent estimates indicate that the 
returns from cannabis cultivation range from $16,400-$29,800 
per hectare (little of which goes to the growers themselves), 
compared with an average of $1,000 per hectare for one 
possible alternative, corn. 
 
3.  According to EU law enforcement officials, Moroccan 
cannabis is typically processed into cannabis resin or oil 
and exported to Europe, Algeria, and Tunisia.  To date, 
Morocco has no enterprises that use dual-use precursor 
chemicals, and is thus neither a source nor transit point for 
them.  While there has been a small but growing domestic 
market for harder drugs like heroin and cocaine, cannabis 
remains the most widely used illicit drug in Morocco. 
Although there is no substantial evidence of widespread 
trafficking in heroin or cocaine, press reports suggest Latin 
American cocaine traffickers may have started using 
well-established cannabis smuggling routes to move cocaine 
into Europe. 
 
III. Country Actions Against Drugs 
 
4.  Policy Initiatives:  The GOM's partnership with UNODC in 
conducting the 2004 and 2003 cannabis surveys reflects 
Morocco's desire to compile accurate data about narcotics 
production and address its narcotics problem.  In 2004 
Morocco also launched an awareness campaign for cannabis 
growers alerting them to the adverse effects of cannabis 
cultivation for the land and informing them of alternative 
ways to use the land more productively. 
 
5.  Throughout the 1980,s, the GOM worked in conjunction 
with the UN to devise a response to the unique geographic, 
cultural and economic circumstances that confront the many 
people involved in the cultivation of cannabis in northern 
Morocco.  Joint projects to encourage cultivation of 
alternative agricultural products included providing goats 
for dairy farming, apple trees, and small bee-keeping 
initiatives.  This effort also included paved roads, modern 
irrigation networks, and health and veterinary clinics.  In 
the 1990,s, the GOM continued to focus on development 
 
 
alternatives in Morocco's northern provinces through the work 
of APDN and the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA). 
In June 2003, TMSA oversaw the groundbreaking of the 
centerpiece of its northern development program, the 
Tanger-MED port, which is set to become Morocco's primary 
maritime gateway to the world.  To study the viability of 
medicinal plant substitution the GOM selected Taounate as the 
site for the construction of the National Institute of 
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (INPMA). 
 
6.  Accomplishments:  Morocco and France agreed in 2004 to 
reinforce bilateral counternarcotics cooperation by deploying 
liaison officers to Tangiers and France. During this past 
year, according to both Moroccan and French police sources, 
their use of controlled deliveries of drugs has proven to be 
a very successful interdiction technique. The GOM in 2005 
destroyed more than 7,000 hectares of cannabis, primarily in 
Larache and Taounate Provinces, and plans to destroy 
10,000-25,000 hectares of land cultivated with cannabis 
during next year's eradication campaign.  The Ministry of 
Interior is also in the final stages of launching a website 
that will provide the public with information on the 
government's counternarcotics efforts.  Morocco has laws 
providing a maximum allowable prison sentence for drug 
offenses of 30 years, as well as fines for narcotics 
violations ranging from $20,000-$80,000.  Ten years' 
imprisonment remains the typical sentence for major drug 
traffickers convicted in Morocco. 
 
7.  Law Enforcement Efforts:  According to government 
statistics, Morocco in 2004 seized 318 tons of cannabis, 
representing a 361 percent increase over the 69 tons seized 
the previous year.  During the same period seizures were also 
up for cocaine, heroin, and psychoactive drugs.  Morocco 
claims to have arrested 22,526 Moroccan nationals and 356 
foreigners in connection with drug-related offenses in 2004. 
 
8.  As part of a 1992 counternarcotics initiative, an 
estimated 10,000 police were detailed to drug interdiction 
efforts in the North and Rif mountains in 1995.  Since then, 
approximately every six months, the GOM has rotated personnel 
into this region and continued to maintain narcotics 
checkpoints.  Moroccan forces also staff observation posts 
along the Mediterranean coast, and the Moroccan Navy carries 
out routine sea patrols and responds to information developed 
by the observation posts.  These efforts, however, have not 
changed the underlying reality of extensive cannabis 
cultivation and trafficking in northern Morocco. 
 
9.  Corruption:  The GOM does not promote drug production or 
trafficking as a matter of policy, and it contests 
accusations that government officials in the northern 
territories are involved in the drug trade.  According to 
Moroccan press reports, the Rabat Court of Appeal in April 
issued prison sentences ranging from 1 to 10 years to members 
of a drug trafficking ring, including 25 policemen and 7 
gendarmes who were given one-year sentences for corruption. 
 
10.  Agreements and Treaties:  Although the U.S. and Morocco 
do not have an extradition treaty, cooperation in judicial 
matters is accomplished through a Mutual Legal Assistance 
Treaty. Morocco is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, 
the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 
1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by 
the 1972 Protocol amending the Single Convention.  Morocco is 
a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime. 
 
11.  Cultivation/Production:  The center of cannabis 
production continues to be the province of Chefchaouen, 
although production has expanded north in the last two 
decades to the outskirts of Tangiers, west to the coastal 
city of Larache, and east toward Al Hoceima.  According to 
the UNODC report, small farmers in the northern Rif region 
grow mostly cannabis, where an estimated 27 percent of arable 
land is dedicated to its cultivation.  Production also occurs 
on a smaller scale in the Souss valley in the south.  The 
UNODC survey found that 75 percent of villages and 96,000 
 
 
farms in the Rif region cultivate cannabis, representing 6.5 
percent of all farms in Morocco. 
 
12.  The GOM has stated its commitment to the total 
eradication of cannabis production, but given the economic 
and historical dependence on cannabis in the northern region, 
eradication is only feasible if accompanied by a well 
designed development strategy involving reform of local 
government and a highly subsidized crop substitution program. 
 Moroccan drug officials have indicated that crop 
substitution programs thus far appear to have made little 
headway in providing economic alternatives to cannabis 
production.  The amount of cannabis production measured in 
2004 suggests that the crop's cultivation has seen a steady 
increase over the past few years, to the detriment of other 
agricultural activities.  The UNODC report warned that this 
agricultural monoculture represents an extreme danger to the 
ecosystem, as the extensive use of fertilizers and forest 
removal continues to be the methods of choice to make room 
for cannabis cultivation. 
 
13.  Drug Flow/Transit: The primary ports of export for 
Moroccan cannabis are Oued Lalou, Martil and Bou Ahmed on the 
Mediterranean coast.  Most large shipments bound for Spain 
travel via fishing vessels or private yachts.  Shipments of 
up to two tons increasingly are being confiscated on smaller 
"zodiac" speedboats that reportedly can make roundtrips to 
Spain in one hour.  Smugglers also continue to transport 
cannabis via truck and car through the Spanish enclaves of 
Ceuta and Melilla, and the Moroccan port of Tangiers, 
crossing the Straits of Gibraltar by ferry.  According to the 
UNODC, Spain still accounts for the world's largest portion 
of cannabis resin seizures (57 percent of global seizures and 
75 percent of European seizures in 2001).  The Moroccan press 
reported that some 800 tons of Moroccan cannabis resin were 
seized in Spain in 2004.  Given its proximity to Morocco, 
Spain is a key transfer point for Europe-bound Moroccan 
cannabis resin. 
 
14.  Domestic Programs:  The GOM is concerned about signs of 
an increase in domestic heroin and cocaine use, but does not 
aggressively promote reduction in domestic demand for these 
drugs or for cannabis.  It has established a program to train 
the staffs of psychiatric hospitals in the treatment of drug 
addiction.  In partnership with UNODC, the Ministry of Health 
is exploring the relationship between drug use and HIV/AIDS 
infection in Morocco.  Moroccan civil society and some 
schools are active in promoting counternarcotics use 
campaigns. 
 
IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
 
15.  U.S. Policy Initiatives:  U.S. policy goals in Morocco 
are to enhance Morocco's counter narcotics capability through 
training in law enforcement techniques and to promote the 
GOM's adherence to its obligations under relevant bilateral 
and international agreements.  U.S.-supported efforts to 
strengthen anti-money-laundering laws and efforts against 
terrorist financing may also contribute to the GOM,s ability 
to monitor the flow of money from the cannabis trade. 
 
16.  Bilateral Cooperation:  According to Moroccan narcotics 
officials, USG-provided border security equipment, 
particularly new scanners in main ports, improved the 
effectiveness of security measures at entry points, which 
directly contributed to increased drug seizures in 2004. 
Morocco and the U.S. have also begun to expand cooperation on 
drug investigations of mutual interest. The Drug Enforcement 
Administration (DEA), which covers Morocco from its Paris 
office, has enhanced its engagement with the Moroccan 
National Police, including discussing ways to increase 
training visits to the US by Moroccan narcotics officials and 
by US officials to Morocco.  DEA officials conducted three 
trips to Morocco in the 2005.  During the December 2005 
visit, U.S. and Moroccan officials discussed ways in which 
the two governments can further their mutual cooperation. 
 
17.  Road Ahead  The United States will continue to monitor 
 
 
the narcotics situation in Morocco, cooperate with the GOM in 
its counternarcotics efforts, and, together with the EU, 
provide law enforcement training, intelligence, and other 
support where possible. 
Riley