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Agricultural innovations in Morocco’s cannabis industry

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy & Jennifer Macfarlane / 2018 / International Journal of Drug Policy.

In Morocco, subsequent to very localized, experimental beginnings in the early 2000s, the progressive and varied adoption of cannabis agricultural innovations at the cultivation and production stages has spread throughout the Rif during the 2010s. Interviews and direct observations conducted in the field indicate that the ongoing adoption of modern farming techniques has enabled the production of high-quality hashish and potent modern extracts. The still ongoing modernization and professionalization of the Moroccan cannabis industry is a testimony of the country’s leading position in global hashish production.

The New Moroccan Hashish

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2017 / Cannabis Now.

A close look at the rise of hashish production in Morocco, where cannabis cultivation has largely declined in the past few years and where a massive switch to hybrid varieties, which yield three to five times more hashish than the kif landrace, has taken place.

La géographie à l’épreuve de la drogue

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2017 / Université de la réunion.

Après deux décennies de recherches portant sur la production illégale et le trafic de drogues, le temps était venu d’opérer un retour réflexif sur des thématiques, des problématiques, des méthodologies et des pratiques de terrain propres à l’étude de l’objet drogue. Un tel retour était bien sûr d’autant plus important que la drogue demeure encore aujourd’hui un impensé géographique et que tant les remarques et les questions de certains collègues que la teneur de certaines évaluations de mes articles, ne laissaient aucun doute sur les incompréhensions et la méfiance qui existent toujours à propos des recherches portant sur la drogue. Quel meilleur format, dès lors, que celui de l’HDR pour aborder longuement et librement les tenants et les aboutissants d’une telle recherche ?

The myth of the Narco-state

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2016 / Space and Polity.

Despite being used repeatedly in different contexts, the term narco-state” has never been
satisfactorily defined or explained. In fact, the existence of the narco-state is almost always taken for granted. This article will argue, on the basis of a review of existing definitions and of selected case studies, that there is no such thing as a narco-state and that using the term tends to oversimplify if not mask the complex socio-political and economic realities of drug-producing countries. The narco-state notion will be debated and opposed in terms of politics, territory, and economics.

The Supply of Hashish to Europe

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2016 / EMCDDA.

This paper critically reviews the available data order to shed further light on what is happening with respect to the production of cannabis resin and its impact on the supply to Europe. It concludes that despite the paucity of data on both hashish production in Afghanistan, in Lebanon and in Morocco, and on the primary sources of the hashish consumed with the European Union, it appears that Moroccan hashish production has been underreported in the UNODC World Drug Reports. Also, it seems that mentions of resins sourced in Afghanistan and Lebanon are not corroborated by the availability of these products within the European Union.

Himalayan Highs

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy / 2016 / Cannabis Now.

Hashish has been produced in India for thousands of years, notably in the Parvati Valley, in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Yet, rather recently, modern hybrid cannabis varieties have appeared in the Parvati Valley.