A large-scale operation against cannabis cultivation in Albania has been yielding results and the phenomenon is expected to be eradicated by the end of the year, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on July 7. 

Albania until recently was known as one of the main producers of marijuana in the world, and there are still numerous links between officials (including those at high levels) and the drug trade. However, as it aims to start EU accession negotiations, the government has been working to stamp out drug cultivation. While the country secured EU candidate status in 2014, at the time several EU member states expressed concern about organised crime in the country. 

“We are all together in a decisive operation to end the large-scale cannabis cultivation story. All the data are very encouraging so far,” Rama said in a government statement, presenting the results of the national plan against cannabis plantations.

The prime minister confirmed that some police officers have been involved in marijuana cultivation, and called on police officials to adopt a zero tolerance approach to any officers involved in such illicit activities.

“This is a struggle that does not end like the illness ends after an operation, but we are determined to remove once and forever all stains left from this phenomenon,” Rama was quoted as saying, as he met senior interior ministry and police officials.

The national action plan was a strategic document aimed at coordinating and leading all inter-institutional efforts in the fight against trafficking and cultivation of cannabis plants across the country. Law enforcement agencies and all relevant institutions have been engaged in a country-wide crackdown operation. 

The plan to fight cannabis cultivation was launched in March. The Albanian authorities have been working with Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, with Rama calling the fight against cannabis plantations “in essence is a joint operation with our Italian partners, a joint operation between the two governments”.

Rama underlined that the people responsible for the fight against cannabis cultivation will be directly blamed if large-scale production restarts in their areas.

Following a major operation in 2015 against cannabis cultivation in the southern Albanian village of Lazarat, known as Europe’s “capital of marijuana”, street prices of marijuana in neighbouring Macedonia jumped significantly, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Recently, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) also expressed increased concerns in its latest report about Albanian violent criminal gangs, which have considerable control over the illegal cocaine market in the UK.