Research:2024-06-13/Journal article/international-property-rights-for-cannabis-landraces-and-terroir-products-the-case-of-moroccan-cannabis-and-ha

Research record13 June 2024Journal article

International property rights for Cannabis landraces and terroir products. The case of Moroccan Cannabis and hashish

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy

International Journal of Drug Policy · 2024

Argues that appellations of origin offer the best available intellectual property protection for cannabis landraces and terroir products, on grounds that what needs protecting is tradition and collective ownership rather than innovation and individual ownership. Finds UPOV plant variety protection unsuited to landraces, which cannot meet the distinctness, uniformity and stability criteria required of cultivars. Develops the case through Moroccan hashish and the kif landrace of the Rif, whose typicity derives from the region's geography and the sociotechnical itinerary of cultivation. Concludes that only hashish made traditionally from kif could qualify for an appellation, since recent imported hybrids have produced a resin of Moroccan provenance but not Moroccan origin, and notes that an appellation cannot legally control third party use of a landrace but extends protection in practice to the agroecosystem on which the terroir depends.

SourceDOIPDF

More research from Morocco

• 18 Jul 2026Terroir-driven phenolic chemotypes and antioxidant/antimicrobial activities of Beldia (Cannabis sativa L.) seed extracts
• 28 Jul 2025A comparative phytocannabinoid profiling of resin from five hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivars from central-northern Morocco
• 24 Sep 2024Comprehensive Review of Phytochemical Studies and Legalization of Cannabis in Morocco
• 23 Nov 2022Moroccan hashish as an example of a cannabis terroir product
• 12 Oct 2022Origin, Early History, Cultivation, and Characteristics of the Traditional Varieties of Moroccan Cannabis sativa L.

Record created 4 May 2026 · maintained by landrace.wiki editors · page history

Published13 Jun 2024

TypeJournal article

VenueInternational Journal of Drug Policy

Year2024

DOI10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104479

CountryMorocco

Growing regionRif Mountains

SourceDOIPDF

2024-06-13 2026-05-04 International property rights for Cannabis landraces and terroir products. The case of Moroccan Cannabis and hashish Journal article Conservation Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy International Journal of Drug Policy 2024 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104479 https://www.geopium.org/international-property-rights-for-cannabis-landraces-and-terroir-products-the-case-of-moroccan-cannabis-and-hashish/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104479 Argues that appellations of origin offer the best available intellectual property protection for cannabis landraces and terroir products, on grounds that what needs protecting is tradition and collective ownership rather than innovation and individual ownership. Finds UPOV plant variety protection unsuited to landraces, which cannot meet the distinctness, uniformity and stability criteria required of cultivars. Develops the case through Moroccan hashish and the kif landrace of the Rif, whose typicity derives from the region's geography and the sociotechnical itinerary of cultivation. Concludes that only hashish made traditionally from kif could qualify for an appellation, since recent imported hybrids have produced a resin of Moroccan provenance but not Moroccan origin, and notes that an appellation cannot legally control third party use of a landrace but extends protection in practice to the agroecosystem on which the terroir depends. Morocco Rif Mountains