Strain Library

Morocco

Moroccan

Also called Morocco, Moroccan Beldia, Beldia, Beldiya, Baladiyya, Moroccan Kif, Ketama, Rif

Moroccan cannabis is called kif, and the Rif mountains around Ketama are its heartland. Its arrival is poorly dated; one geographer suggests the fifteenth century, and in 1890 Sultan Hassan I regulated cultivation while letting several Rif tribes continue. Morocco banned cannabis in 1956 but tolerated Rif farming, and from the 1960s Western visitors reportedly helped turn local production into a hashish trade that expanded sharply in the 1980s for European export. The traditional local variety is called beldia, meaning 'of the country'. Researchers report it was displaced from the early 1980s by Near Eastern varieties, then by imported high-yield seed from the Netherlands (1998) and Spain (2010s), though some survives. A 2021 law created a licensed cultivation framework, and in 2024 the regulator approved beldia growing near Al Hoceima.

Region
Rif mountains, around Ketama (Al Hoceima and Chefchaouen provinces)
How sure we are
Well documented. Peer-reviewed papers and regulator decisions cover the Rif tradition and seed changes, though the first arrival date and how pure surviving beldia is remain debated.
Keep in mind
Samples sold as Moroccan in the US are usually modern selections or crosses, and even the Rif's own varieties have reportedly been heavily mixed with imported seed.

Timeline

  1. 15th century Geographer Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy writes that most historians agree cannabis had not reached Ketama before the fifteenth century, though it arrived in Morocco earlier. Source
  2. 1890 Sultan Hassan I imposes strict rules on cannabis cultivation and trade but grants production privileges to several Rif tribes. Source
  3. 1956 Nationwide prohibition is introduced, but cultivation in the Rif continues to be tolerated in practice. Source
  4. Early 1980s The traditional local kif landrace is reportedly supplanted by low-water Near Eastern varieties; the authors of a 2018 paper think the original is probably long gone. Source
  5. March 2024 Morocco's cannabis regulator (ANRAC) authorises cultivation of Beldia in the Al Hoceima region, where legal production had relied on imported seed. Source

Sources

  1. Chouvy (2006/2008), Moroccan Roll, originally in High Times, on geopium.org
  2. Chouvy and Macfarlane (2018), Agricultural innovations in Morocco's cannabis industry, International Journal of Drug Policy (web version)
  3. Bachir et al. (2022), origin, early history and traditional varieties of Moroccan cannabis, Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research (abstract read)
  4. Wikipedia, Cannabis in Morocco (encyclopedia; cites Bouchard et al. 2013, Soderbaum and Taylor 2008)
  5. TelQuel (2024), ANRAC authorises Beldia cultivation in Al Hoceima region
  6. Hespress FR (2025), study of the Beldiya variety near Chefchaouen
  7. Qantara.de (2003), review of the documentary Hashish, on Ketama and the Rif economy

All landrace strainsThe cannabis timeline

Written from the sources above. Informational only, not medical advice.