ONCE you leave the tarmac road, the hillside hamlet of
Mechkralla can be reached only after an arduous three-hour trek
up a mule track, itself partly paid for by the European Union to
encourage tourism in Morocco's northern mountain range, the Rif.
Almost as soon as the main roads and towns are out of sight, the
wild, rocky landscape turns into a patchwork of verdant cannabis
fields interspersed with golden wheat and hot-pink oleander
bushes. Along the way, women with bright striped sashes and
straw hats are harvesting the tall seven-leafed plants.  The Rif
has hundreds of villages like Mechkralla, virtually all
surviving on the growth of this illegal crop whose resin,
extracted from cannabis pollen, is turned into hashish.
According to the United Nations, the region exports 1,000 tonnes
a year, providing 80% of European hash-smokers' needs, and
nearly one-third of the world's.  Hamed, a blissful-looking
farmer who smokes the dried buds in the traditional way, mixing
them with coarse tobacco in a long reed pi