The dahir of November 12, 1932 marked a watershed moment for cannabis control in French Morocco. Despite its monopolistic control over the cultivation, production, and sale of cannabis, the clutch of the Société Internationale de Régie Co-Intéressée des Tabacs on cannabis had remained tenuous since its inception in 1911. Cannabis traffickers operated a parallel market that cultivated, moved, and sold raw cannabis and cannabis products, such as kif, around the French zone. In an effort to clamp down on the illegal flow, the French protectorate administration promulgated a dahir that consolidated previous cannabis legislation and introduced new policing measures. This paper studies the cannabis crime reporting published in colonial newspapers that came in the wake of the 1932 dahir. Papers such as Le Petit Marocain and La Vigie Marocaine increasingly documented seizures and sentences throughout the 1930s. The main question here revolves around the proliferation of this coverage: Why was cannabis crime and punishment closely followed and announced to the French-reading public? In offering an answer, this study pays particular attention to the language that journalists and editors used to describe the traffickers and their illegal trade. A focus on language reveals the conceptual construction and circulation of the idea that cannabis traffickers posed several threats. For one, papers described traffickers as risks to the physical safety of the community. Their use of firearms and fast cars, among other actions, endangered authorities and innocent by-standers alike. Traffickers also jeopardized the finances of the régie and its authorized vendors. Publications usually listed the amount of illicit cannabis seized as a way to stress the potential lost profits. Publicizing the success of police and régie authorities thus became a way to convince readers of the importance of channeling time, money, and resources towards ending cannabis trafficking. Coverage later declined in the early 1940s with paper rationing in the protectorate and public attention redirected toward World War II and Vichy France.