Jordi Pizarro

14,4 km

14,4 km is the distance of the sea that separates Morocco from Spain.

The scenery of the sea journey allowing marijuana to go from one of the largest hashish factories in the world to Europe. Though unauthorized, the cultivation of marijuana is tolerated by the Moroccan government: about 80% of this drug consumed in Europe originates in the country. Rif, the northern region of Morocco and Berber territory, resembles a separate country altogether, with its own norms and laws. This is a land dominated by the mafia. Beneath the fields of rolling green hills, lay millions of euros, hidden and guarded like gold by police, soldiers and peasants alike. In this area inaccessible to tourists, millions of marijuana plants thrive on the roadside and in infinite plantations protected by police and members of the Moroccan Intelligence Services.

The inhabitants of this area have maintained marijuana production since time immemorial, but in years gone by hashish was simply a European whim that Islamic lands did not entertain until the 1970s when a group of foreigners arrived and taught farmers to transform the plant into a drug to satisfy the increasing cravings of society.

Only in the northern Moroccan Rif region (until 1956 a Spanish protectorate) around 30,000 families live out of cannabis production, which in many cases takes place in their own houses and represents the only significant yearly income for many of them (e.g. four hectares of land can bring 10,000 euros per year). Exposing this treasure would spell the end for mafia groups controlling it, but would also spell ruin for many families in the area.

Corruption on the two shores time ensures the permanence of the business, although efforts to combat it, among others by the security forces of the tax agency and the Guardia Civil (Spanish military police) that since it came into the region from the South of Spain are not missed the first boat loaded with gold from the RIF - were the years 90 - face the challenge as best they can. 

The Moroccan State, on the other hand, tends to intervene, destroying plantations, only when you feel pressure from Europe, simple bureaucracy to keep the neighbors happy.
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Assignment for The Sunday Times Magazine
Text by Elena Ledda