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YEAR: 2009 / DURATION: 26 MINS / PRODUCTION: Camicas Productions/ Director : Coline Tison and Pierre Creisson / AVAILABLE: FRENCH
Previous broadcasts include VRT and SIC
The Rif, in Northern Morocco, has become a cannabis supermarket for European drug dealers. Whilst cannabis is illegal in Morocco, as it is in most European countries, the Moroccan authorities prefer to turn a blind eye to the 50 000 hectares consecrated to growing the weed in the region. Cannabis farming is far more profitable than other crops, and smoking is tolerated as part of the local culture.
The cannabis farmers of the Rif seem to provide a complete service for their European clients: they turn the cannabis into hash to make it easier to transport and even offer expert car packers to conceal the drug for the trip over the Spanish and Moroccan borders. It all seems so simple. Yet the border officials and their sniffer dogs are just as expert at their jobs: they know every trick in the book when it comes to concealing drugs, and many smugglers are caught. The penalties are harsh: up to 7 years in a Moroccan jail, even if it is a first offence.
In this candid report, we meet the Moroccan farmers and their European punters, some less fortunate than others, as well as the border officials and the employees of the French consulate, who do their best to help those French citizens who have fallen into the cannabis trap.
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