The trans-Mediterranean drug complex: drug trade, drug control and the prospects for instituting social, political and economic rights

Abstract:

The cannabis industry contributes considerably to income and employment opportunities, investment levels and the foreign exchange income of Morocco. Integrating this sector into societal institutions and making it responsive to wider needs of state and society is however difficult, especially since prohibition tends to obliterate many of those institutions through which diverse interests could be calibrated. The criminalization of the drug trade furthermore opens an avenue for the coercive apparatuses of states to extort money from the drug industry, run protection rackets over populations and inflict harm on selected targets. Developments in the Americas have shown how devastating such (relative) anarchy can be for the institutions that might foster peace, stability, democracy, development, justice and the protection of human rights. As it is these goals and related principles that are expressed in the documents pertaining to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, more attention should be given to creating institutions and regulatory practices that could advance such goals.