VOICES OF THE RIF ON CANNABIS

The next episode of Gaia Gossip `On the Move´ will bring Pien Metaal, an activist and political scientist who has been part of the Drugs and Democracy programme with the Transnational Institute since 2002, to the show. Pien and Maren have been working together in the Moroccan Rif together with the Spanish journalist Blanca Diego this year in May. The resulting Podcast „VOICES OF THE RIF ON CANNABIS“, is about the people, an ancestral plant and a millionaire trade. Pien will discuss her point of view on the history of cannabis in the Rif of Morocco, a story of resistance of the Amazigh people and their struggle to maintain the cultivation of the native cannabis seed, the Beldía; prohibited and tolerated over the centuries and finally regulated in Morocco in 2021.

Host Maren Krings is a Climate Impact Storyteller who uses her skills and credentials in photography, filmmaking, content writing, and keynote speaking to communicate the potential of hemp for climate resilience and social justice. 

She has a B.F.A. in Photography from the Savannah College of Art & Design, an online degree in Climate Change Studies and Environmental Science from the University of Exeter, and multiple certifications in related fields.