Un article paru sur le Moscow Times (e-magazine russe). http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/08/21/253.html
L'argent sale du hashish est aussi investi par certains reseaux pour financer le terrorisme au nom de l'Islam. Les attentas de Madrid en etaient l'exemple. Les gains qu'on fait sont fabuleuses. Les paysans ne veulent plus rien d'autre que le cannabis. Les satellites americaines indiquenmt que les surfaces cultivées ont presque doublé. Les forets disparaissent vite pour laisser place a des fermes illegales... Manque de perspectif ou tout simplement fatalisme hereditaire: gagner vite de l'argent sans avoir a travailler dur, au detriment de la santé des consommateurs, de l'image du pays deja ruinée a l'etranger???
On ne parle pas ouvertement de ce probleme. Un jour j'ai eu l'occasion d'en parler avec des connaissances: quelle est notre position vis-a-vis de la drogue? Aucun n'avait une reponse claire. Une personne craignait faire des ennemis en critiquant les paysants qui cultivent le cannabis. Tant qu'ils n'ont pas d'alternative, il ne faut pas les juger, encore loin d'en faire des ennemis du mouvement, a t-on rassuré! Mais, que faire si un jour ce fleau s'installe au coeur du Souss? Du cannabis a la place des tomates et des orangers??
-------------------------------------------
Morocco's cannabis farmers struggle as their product funds terrorism in
Europe
By JOHN THORNE Associated Press Writer
KETAMA, Morocco
Like many in this hardscrabble region, Abdurahman and his family are
near-destitute people who possess vast riches. Their cinderblock farmhouse,
clinging to the stony slopes of northern Morocco's Rif Mountains, is as
empty as an abandoned bunker, but a closer look at their lands reveals an
illicit bounty.
On the surrounding mountainsides, emerald swaths of cannabis mature under
the Mediterranean sun. Abdurahman has laid out bundles of it to dry on the
roof. After a few days, he will take the cannabis inside, where it will dry
for a month before the resin is extracted and molded into 200-gram bricks of
dung-colored hashish.
Morocco is the world's largest producer of hashish, but the crop that
sustains the Rif is feeding more than European drug appetites _ authorities
fear drug gangs fund the Islamic terrorism that has struck European cities.
Small sales of Moroccan hash "almost exclusively" paid for the Madrid train
bombings in March 2004 by the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group, known by its
French acronym, GICM, said a U.S. military official familiar with the
region.
Drugs and terror have become so intertwined, the official said, that "every
time someone smokes hashish anywhere in Europe, they are funding the GICM."
He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The terror link is causing Moroccan authorities to crack down on hashish
growers. Since last year, Morocco, bowing to European pressure, has been
razing fields in the Rif's outlying areas. With this year's harvest under
way, the sweep has farmers alarmed.
Cannabis, illegal in Morocco but widely tolerated in the Rif, is the only
crop that grows well in the stony soil, said Abdurahman, who would not give
his last name because of his dubious profession. Farmers who have tried
other crops have ended up losing money.
Hashish originated in Central Asia and famously lent its name to the
Assassins _ a corruption of the Arabic "hashishiyin" _ a violent Islamic
sect in medieval Persia that some contemporaries believed used the drug.
Some 96,000 Moroccan families like Abdurahman's, mostly in the Rif and
surrounding regions, are involved in its production, according to a U.N.
drug report.
With an estimated yearly turnover of US$13 billion (euro10.8 billion),
Morocco's hashish trade should make them rich. Western European countries
consume most of the estimated 98,000 tons of hashish produced in Morocco
each year, U.N. figures say.
But "most of the people here are poor," said Abdurahman, who lives with his
five brothers, one brother's wife and two children, and his aged mother. He
said the average income of Rif families, often over 10 members, is about
three or four thousand euros (dollars) a year.
Others say Morocco's traffickers, not growers, make the real profits by
buying low at home, then selling high in Europe.
Farmers in the Rif say their best customers are the European tourists who
swing through in search of a cheap high in a lovely setting. With its
dilapidated villages, crumbling peaks, pine groves and sprays of pink
wildflowers, the Rif delivers the mix of squalid poverty and stunning
natural beauty that has long enchanted Western tourists and put Morocco on
the 1960's "Hippie Trail."
"It's thanks to the Europeans, and their good prices, that we live," said
one farmer, standing at the roadside next to his field to flag down possible
customers.
But French and American authorities say the bulk of Morocco's hash is sold
cut-rate to Moroccan smuggling networks based in Europe, some of whom have
ties to Islamic terror.
Last year, the government of neighboring Larache province piloted a program
of totally eradicating cannabis fields, giving their owners amnesty and
providing them substitutes like olive trees or goats.
"These people aren't criminals, they're manipulated by the big traffickers,"
explained Mohamed Milahi, Larache's top social action official who is
leading the eradication program.
The Larache program and other efforts to curb cannabis growing appear to
have borne fruit. According to a 2006 report by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, Morocco's hash production decreased by 61 percent between
2004 and 2005.
Milahi said the campaign in Larache was part of a national effort to
modernize the country. "Our main objective is to give these people their
dignity," he said.
But farmers are more concerned with putting food on their tables. Eighteen
percent in Larache refused replacement crops and replanted their more
lucrative cannabis after last year's initial cull.
"The problem is that what (the government) considers a substitute is given
in a very weak amount," said Abdeslam Dahman, secretary-general of the TARGA
Association, which promotes rural development in Morocco.
Meanwhile, a family could earn 50,000-60,000 dirhams (US$5,800-US$6,900;
euro4,500-euro5,400) a year with cannabis, he said, "more than with any
other plant."
"The alternative to cannabis isn't to push people to do traditional things _
goats and olives _ it's to develop the region. It lacks roads, drinking
water, even electricity," he said.
Farmers worry that things could go especially badly in the mountainous Rif
heartland if the government eventually extends full eradication there, as
planned.
"Because of the snow, we can't have the replacement methods that work in
Larache," said Abdurahman.
060820 064832
Copyright 2006 Associated Press.
L'argent sale du hashish est aussi investi par certains reseaux pour financer le terrorisme au nom de l'Islam. Les attentas de Madrid en etaient l'exemple. Les gains qu'on fait sont fabuleuses. Les paysans ne veulent plus rien d'autre que le cannabis. Les satellites americaines indiquenmt que les surfaces cultivées ont presque doublé. Les forets disparaissent vite pour laisser place a des fermes illegales... Manque de perspectif ou tout simplement fatalisme hereditaire: gagner vite de l'argent sans avoir a travailler dur, au detriment de la santé des consommateurs, de l'image du pays deja ruinée a l'etranger???
On ne parle pas ouvertement de ce probleme. Un jour j'ai eu l'occasion d'en parler avec des connaissances: quelle est notre position vis-a-vis de la drogue? Aucun n'avait une reponse claire. Une personne craignait faire des ennemis en critiquant les paysants qui cultivent le cannabis. Tant qu'ils n'ont pas d'alternative, il ne faut pas les juger, encore loin d'en faire des ennemis du mouvement, a t-on rassuré! Mais, que faire si un jour ce fleau s'installe au coeur du Souss? Du cannabis a la place des tomates et des orangers??
-------------------------------------------
Morocco's cannabis farmers struggle as their product funds terrorism in
Europe
By JOHN THORNE Associated Press Writer
KETAMA, Morocco
Like many in this hardscrabble region, Abdurahman and his family are
near-destitute people who possess vast riches. Their cinderblock farmhouse,
clinging to the stony slopes of northern Morocco's Rif Mountains, is as
empty as an abandoned bunker, but a closer look at their lands reveals an
illicit bounty.
On the surrounding mountainsides, emerald swaths of cannabis mature under
the Mediterranean sun. Abdurahman has laid out bundles of it to dry on the
roof. After a few days, he will take the cannabis inside, where it will dry
for a month before the resin is extracted and molded into 200-gram bricks of
dung-colored hashish.
Morocco is the world's largest producer of hashish, but the crop that
sustains the Rif is feeding more than European drug appetites _ authorities
fear drug gangs fund the Islamic terrorism that has struck European cities.
Small sales of Moroccan hash "almost exclusively" paid for the Madrid train
bombings in March 2004 by the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group, known by its
French acronym, GICM, said a U.S. military official familiar with the
region.
Drugs and terror have become so intertwined, the official said, that "every
time someone smokes hashish anywhere in Europe, they are funding the GICM."
He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The terror link is causing Moroccan authorities to crack down on hashish
growers. Since last year, Morocco, bowing to European pressure, has been
razing fields in the Rif's outlying areas. With this year's harvest under
way, the sweep has farmers alarmed.
Cannabis, illegal in Morocco but widely tolerated in the Rif, is the only
crop that grows well in the stony soil, said Abdurahman, who would not give
his last name because of his dubious profession. Farmers who have tried
other crops have ended up losing money.
Hashish originated in Central Asia and famously lent its name to the
Assassins _ a corruption of the Arabic "hashishiyin" _ a violent Islamic
sect in medieval Persia that some contemporaries believed used the drug.
Some 96,000 Moroccan families like Abdurahman's, mostly in the Rif and
surrounding regions, are involved in its production, according to a U.N.
drug report.
With an estimated yearly turnover of US$13 billion (euro10.8 billion),
Morocco's hashish trade should make them rich. Western European countries
consume most of the estimated 98,000 tons of hashish produced in Morocco
each year, U.N. figures say.
But "most of the people here are poor," said Abdurahman, who lives with his
five brothers, one brother's wife and two children, and his aged mother. He
said the average income of Rif families, often over 10 members, is about
three or four thousand euros (dollars) a year.
Others say Morocco's traffickers, not growers, make the real profits by
buying low at home, then selling high in Europe.
Farmers in the Rif say their best customers are the European tourists who
swing through in search of a cheap high in a lovely setting. With its
dilapidated villages, crumbling peaks, pine groves and sprays of pink
wildflowers, the Rif delivers the mix of squalid poverty and stunning
natural beauty that has long enchanted Western tourists and put Morocco on
the 1960's "Hippie Trail."
"It's thanks to the Europeans, and their good prices, that we live," said
one farmer, standing at the roadside next to his field to flag down possible
customers.
But French and American authorities say the bulk of Morocco's hash is sold
cut-rate to Moroccan smuggling networks based in Europe, some of whom have
ties to Islamic terror.
Last year, the government of neighboring Larache province piloted a program
of totally eradicating cannabis fields, giving their owners amnesty and
providing them substitutes like olive trees or goats.
"These people aren't criminals, they're manipulated by the big traffickers,"
explained Mohamed Milahi, Larache's top social action official who is
leading the eradication program.
The Larache program and other efforts to curb cannabis growing appear to
have borne fruit. According to a 2006 report by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, Morocco's hash production decreased by 61 percent between
2004 and 2005.
Milahi said the campaign in Larache was part of a national effort to
modernize the country. "Our main objective is to give these people their
dignity," he said.
But farmers are more concerned with putting food on their tables. Eighteen
percent in Larache refused replacement crops and replanted their more
lucrative cannabis after last year's initial cull.
"The problem is that what (the government) considers a substitute is given
in a very weak amount," said Abdeslam Dahman, secretary-general of the TARGA
Association, which promotes rural development in Morocco.
Meanwhile, a family could earn 50,000-60,000 dirhams (US$5,800-US$6,900;
euro4,500-euro5,400) a year with cannabis, he said, "more than with any
other plant."
"The alternative to cannabis isn't to push people to do traditional things _
goats and olives _ it's to develop the region. It lacks roads, drinking
water, even electricity," he said.
Farmers worry that things could go especially badly in the mountainous Rif
heartland if the government eventually extends full eradication there, as
planned.
"Because of the snow, we can't have the replacement methods that work in
Larache," said Abdurahman.
060820 064832
Copyright 2006 Associated Press.