Morocco’s Parliament Approves Law to Legalize Medical Use of Cannabis

Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani (MAP)
Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani (MAP)
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Morocco’s Parliament Approves Law to Legalize Medical Use of Cannabis

Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani (MAP)
Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani (MAP)

Moroccan lawmakers on Wednesday approved a law legalizing the therapeutic use of cannabis.

The parliament’s lower house adopted the text on the lawful use of cannabis in the medical, cosmetic and industrial sectors with 119 votes to 48. The upper house now needs to vote on the bill before it is ratified.

MPs from the ruling Justice and Development Party (PJD), who opposed the law, sparked political controversy.

PJD lawmaker Mostafa Brahimi said his party has rejected the law “with full transparency and independence.”

He pointed out that the therapeutic use of the cannabis is “unconfirmed” yet, adding that the studies carried out in this regard were “few and their results are not final.”

He criticized the urgency in approving the law, but the opposition slammed PJD’s vote.

MP Abdullatif Wehbi of the opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) deemed the PJD team’s voting absurd, especially that its secretary-general is the one who approved the law in the first place.

MP Nour Eddine Madian of the opposition Independence Party (Istiqlal party) described voting on the bill as a historic moment and a milestone for a major transformation in the economic, social and psychological life of residents in areas that cultivate this plant.

Secretary-General of the opposition Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) Nabil Benabdallah also slammed the PJD’s voting against the law.

What happened is “unacceptable constitutionally, politically and democratically,” he stressed on Facebook.



Palestinian President Abbas Appoints New Deputy in Major Step in Naming Successor

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)
Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)
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Palestinian President Abbas Appoints New Deputy in Major Step in Naming Successor

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)
Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday named a veteran aide and confidant as his new vice president. It’s a major step by the aging leader to designate a successor.

The appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh as vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization does not guarantee he will be the next Palestinian president. But it makes him the front-runner among longtime politicians in the dominant Fatah party who hope to succeed the 89-year-old Abbas.

Abbas hopes to play a major role in postwar Gaza. He has been under pressure from Western and Arab allies to rehabilitate the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.  

The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Abbas has led both entities for two decades.