The involvement of universities comes after the law on the use of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes in Morocco came into force last July.
Universities have joined this project, taking advantage of research projects in the field of plants, behind which is an official national agency whose mission is scientific and development research and innovation in the field of medicinal and aromatic plants.
Official engagement in research
Before the issue of legalizing cannabis in Morocco was raised on the table of the previous government, specialized centers in the Kingdom took care of this plant, in order to exploit it for medical and industrial purposes, in an effort to move it from the “prohibited” circle to a “legitimate” framework.
To pave the way for this shift, the “National Agency for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants” (an official body), which “has a scientific council that has proposed several important topics to highlight the value of the cannabis plant in the Kingdom”, became involved, according to the agency’s director, Abdel-Khaleq Farhat.
Farhat added, in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, that “the agency, which oversees eight laboratories and their scientific facilities, is keen on following up on the project to legalize the legal uses of cannabis, in addition to the laboratories that universities and national research centers have in other ministerial sectors.”
The director of the National Agency for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants stated that research has been carried out related to “the genetic characterization of the cannabis plant in Morocco, the characterization of the species, the study of phytochemistry, medicinal and industrial applications of cannabis, in addition to the biological and pharmaceutical characterization of the plant.”
The spokesman referred to three projects concerned mainly with research in the “bio-chemical”, pharmaceutical and medical aspects of the cannabis plant, which the agency has been working on since 2018 with the University of Mohammed bin Abdullah in Fez (central) and Mohammed I University of Oujda (east) in 2019, then with University of Bordeaux, France, in 2019.
Opening up to new fields
Among the steps that followed the approval of the legalization of cannabis, Abdelmalek Saadi University in Tetouan (North) decided last month to establish a center for research and evaluation of cannabis in the Al Hoceima province in northern Morocco, for which an amount of more than one million dirhams ($100,000) was allocated.
The researcher in plant biology specializing in ethnobotany, Yassin Maqlash, believes that the Center for Research and Evaluation of Cannabis “will constitute a quantum leap in the field of scientific research specialized in the study of this plant, by embracing a laboratory for studying soil and microorganisms, and it will also be equipped with facilities for genetic and biology experiments.” Molecular, which will have a great impact in revealing the value of this plant locally and internationally, especially since there is a strong global demand for its derivatives.
In his statement to “Sky News Arabia”, the researcher who completed the first doctoral research on cannabis at the level of the Faculty of Science at Abdelmalek Saadi University in Tetouan continued, “The first decade of the 21st century at the Faculty of Science in Tetouan, many scientific publications that dealt with aspects related to biology and medicine in particular.
And Miqlash added, “Since 2010, the importance of being open to research in new fields, such as the relationship of the cannabis plant to humans, or what is termed ethnobotany, has emerged, and this requires familiarity with field research techniques of a social nature.
development bet
Observers in the Kingdom believe that the step of legalizing cannabis for legal uses is a very important project for the country, and Sherif Aradak, a researcher in the economy of cannabis, believes that “the involvement of state scientific research institutions in this area will facilitate the process of integrating the plant economy into the national economic cycle in a better way.” seamless”.
In connection with the “Sky News Arabia” website, Aradak considered that “scientific research will undoubtedly play an important role in showing the distinctive value of the local cannabis plant known as quality.”
The researcher in the cannabis economy also called for “reconsideration of research in the field, which accumulated on the shelves of university and public libraries, by obligating the departments concerned with development and state-affiliated to allocate an important budget for scientific research.”
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