The announcement made in August by the Israeli Ministry of Health to liberalize the country’s laws on the use of medical cannabis risks changing the situation in the European market. Israel will find itself in direct rivalry with Morocco over one of the largest for drug use in health care.
Israel, which in the early 1990s had already legalized the medical use of the drug, the new amendments, which are expected to come into force in December, grant access to cannabis to patients suffering from a wide range of health problems, including epilepsy, dementia, and autism, without a license. People suffering from one of these ailments will just need to obtain a prescription.
At the same time, the export process was also simplified, particularly for shipments to Europe, thus aligning Israeli regulations with European good manufacturing practices.
It should be remembered that in 2022, Morocco has also embarked on the path of production and export of medical cannabis. The Moroccan parliament had adopted a law authorizing the production of cannabis for medical, cosmetic and industrial purposes.
The first 10 permits for the production of medicines and cannabis products had been issued in October 2022. And in March this year, construction of the first legal cannabis laboratory began in the Chefchaouen region.
Moreover, Morocco would like to capture, by 2028, at least 10% of the European medical cannabis market, which is equivalent to a value of 4.2 billion dollars out of a market globally estimated at 42 billion dollars.
Today, Israel has the same ambitions. This means that the two countries, also very close on several issues, will engage in fierce competition.
If Israel has a well-advanced and competitive pharmaceutical and para-pharmaceutical industry, and cannabis is cultivated there according to strict medical standards, Morocco is the second largest producer of cannabis in the world, with very experienced farmers.
That said, specialists on the issue doubt that Morocco can compete with Israel, especially regarding compliance with European standards in the field of medical cannabis. A challenge that new Moroccan companies must face if they want to be competitive. This is despite the very good image enjoyed by Moroccan Cannabis among the largest pharmaceutical laboratories in the world.
