The smoking of kif (marijuana) and hashish (" chocolaté ") has for a long time been a regular pastime of Moroccans and tourists alike. Indeed, in the 1960s and 1970s (or further back, in the 1930s), its ready availability, good quality and low cost made kif a major tourist attraction. It is, however, illegal, or, as the ONMT puts it:

 

Tourists coming to Morocco are warned that the first article in the Dahir of April 24th 1954 prohibits the POSSESSION, the OFFER, the DISTRIBUTION, the PURCHASE, the SALE and the TRANSPORTATION as well as the EXPORTATION of CANNABIS IN WHATEVER FORM. The Dahir allows for a penalty of IMPRISONMENT from three months to five years and a fine of 2400 to 240,000 dirhams, or only one of these. Moreover the law court may ordain the SEIZURE of the means of transport and the things used to cover up the smuggling as well as the toxic products themselves .

In practice, there is no real effort to stop Moroccans from using kif , but as a tourist you are rather more vulnerable. Not so much because of the police , as because of the dealers . Many have developed aggressive tactics, selling people hash (or, occasionally, even planting it) and then returning or sending friends to threaten to turn you in to the police (or just doing so themselves in return for a cut of the backsheesh you have to pay to extricate yourself). Either way, it can all become pretty paranoiac and unpleasant - and large fines (plus prison sentences for substantial amounts) do get levied, though you should be aware if arrested for cannabis that the police normally expect to be paid off, and that this should be done as quickly as possible while the minimum number of officers are involved.

What can you do to avoid all this trouble? Most obviously, keep well clear - above all, of the kif -growing region of Ketama in the Rif mountains - and always reply to hustlers by saying you don't smoke. If you are going to indulge, don't buy anything in the first few days (definitely not in Tangier and Tetouan). And above all do not try to take any out of the country, even to Spain (where attitudes to possession are relaxed but there's nearly always a prison sentence for importing).

If you do get in trouble there are consulates for most nationalities in Rabat, Casablanca and, to a lesser extent, in Tangier and Agadir. All of the consulates are notoriously unsympathetic to drug offenders - the British one in Rabat has an old French poster on the wall, " Le kif détruit l'esprit " - but they can help with technical problems and find you legal representation.