RABAT: Morocco's King Mohammed VI has pardoned more than 4,800 farmers accused of illegally growing cannabis, the justice ministry said Monday.

The monarch "has kindly granted pardon to 4,831 people convicted, prosecuted or wanted in cases linked to the cultivation of cannabis," the ministry said in a statement.

The announcement was made ahead of a national holiday on Tuesday.

Morocco is the world's leading cannabis producer, according to the United Nations. It adopted a law in 2021 on the production and medical use of the drug, authorising its cultivation in rural provinces in the northeastern Rif region.

While setting the target of fighting illegal trafficking, the country is seeking to position itself on the global market for legal cannabis which has been grown in the Rif region for centuries, providing a living for between 80,000 and 120,000 families in 2019, according to official estimates.

The pardon aims to allow those involved "to integrate into the new strategy", according to the ministry statement.

Morocco has set up a special agency, ANRAC, to structure the legal cultivation and export of cannabis for medical, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes. The agency has already issued more than 200 permits for processing cannabis, importing seeds and exporting products.

 -AFP