Bio Cannat, the first Moroccan cooperative authorized to market and export cannabis and its products for industrial and medical use, launched last week the construction work for its first laboratory.
Bio Cannat confirmed the news to Morocco World News (MWN), stressing that its recent communique announced the “launch of the site construction” and not the opening of the laboratory.
Earlier, several Moroccan and international news outlets wrongly reported on Bio Cannat’s inauguration of Morocco’s “first laboratory for medical and industrial use of cannabis.”
Denying that information, Bio Cannat told MWN that its widely reported statement concerned “the launch of the construction work and not the opening.”
In a statement on Sunday, the cooperation stressed that it had obtained authorization as part of the ten permits delivered by the National Agency for Activities Related to Cannabis in October 2022.
The lab, which is now being built in the Chefchaouen region, is considered the first unit at the national.
The cannabis produced by the lab will be used in many industries, including food, industrial, medical, and paramedical sectors.
“There will be agricultural experiments with some of the farmers in the Chefchaouen region, who are involved in agricultural cooperatives to provide the raw material after providing the seeds intended for this purpose,” the communique added.
In 2021, Morocco adopted bill 13-21, allowing the country to establish itself among a growing list of first African countries that have decided to legalize cannabis for medical use.
Through the measure, Morocco aims to ensure that the cannabis legalization for industrial use benefits legal cannabis farmers while cracking down on any illegal practices.
Last year, Morocco’s Consultative Association for the Use of Cannabis (AMCUC) called for promoting measures to support investments in the processing and production of cannabis products in the country.
The association appealed for a “gradual conversion of illegal agricultural activities that are harmful to the environment towards legal and sustainable activities that create value and jobs.”