'Ban hashish and we starve'
2006-03-08 19:57
Al Koulla - Morocco's drive to stamp out cannabis (dagga) cultivation has won praise abroad, but farmers in the world's top hashish-producing nation say they face destitution unless they receive more help to find alternative incomes.
The dark green, fern-like plant has spread across the mountainous Rif region in Morocco's northeast as hashish smoking has gone from marginal to almost mainstream among young Europeans in recent decades.
The government's crackdown on the industry - estimated to be worth about $12bn - received a shot in the arm when suspicions were raised that the plant was used to partly pay for the dynamite that blew up trains in Madrid in 2004, killing 191 people.
Islamist militants claimed the Madrid attacks in the name of al-Qaeda, and Moroccans were implicated in the bombings.
The country's government says it aims to erase cannabis production by 2008 and, in a sign that its policy is working, the cultivated area shrank by 10% in 2004, according to the International Narcotics Control Board.
But, in the Rif, where two-thirds of farmers grow cannabis, people say more should be done to help them develop new sources of income.
Last week, about 3 000 men, women and children held a protest march near the village of Boujdiane.
"Yes to fight hashish, no to starvation," some shouted. "Where are the jobs? Where are the promises?"