Tasmania's legal opium trade

[lequebecfume]

Last Updated: January 15, 2011

Melbourne 19°C - 28°C . Local morning fog then sunny.

Tasmania's legal opium trade



http://content.video.news.com.au/NDM_CP_-_Sky_News/628/503/skynews_2085810.jpg

Watch (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/tasmanias-legal-opium-trade/story-e6frf7l6-1225985053563)

Tasmania's opium trade
The legitimate opium trade is now one of Tasmania's most profitable businesses.


-Multimillion dollar trade in legal opium
-Farmers must undergo strict police checks
-Poppy is a key component in medicinal opiates

WHILE governments around the world struggle to contain the illegal opium trade, hundreds of farmers in Tasmania are preparing to cash in on a multimillion dollar trade in legal opium.

The poppy is Tasmania's biggest export crop, and the industry regularly brings in millions of dollars for Tasmania.

While the trade is entirely legitimate, it is also tightly regulated, and farmers must undergo annual police checks if they want to have their licences renewed.

"If we have a drug offence or anything else to our name, you will not get a license to grow", grower Mike Badcock told Sky News.

Poppy is a key component in pharmaceutical painkillers such as opium, morphine, and heroin, and the tiny island currently supplies almost half of the world's medicinal opiates.

Tasmania has a climate that is particularly conducive to poppy cultivation, and the poppy plants are harvested and processed on the island.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/tasmanias-legal-opium-trade/story-e6frf7l6-1225985053563

[lequebecfume]

Poppies: Lucrative Crop For Aussie Farmers

2:41pm UK, Sunday January 09, 2011
Ian Woods, Australia correspondent

More than 1,000 Australian farmers have begun harvesting a crop which has become more synonymous with Afghan warlords.


But while western governments try and fail to stop the illegal opium trade, the legitimate version is one of Tasmania's most profitable businesses, worth around £50m a year.


Almost half a century ago, the pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline was looking for a southern hemisphere site to grow poppies to produce alkaloids to make painkillers.


It settled on the island state of Tasmania because of its climate and the natural security offered by a place with no land borders.
Now, it provides around half the world's supply of legal opiates.


Mike Badcock's family have farmed for nearly 50 years
Research and development has improved yields, and in early summer 25,000 hectares of farmland is covered with the purple flowers, which are nature's chemical factory.


The poppies are grown under licence from the manufacturers and the state government, and there are strict rules on who is allowed to grow the plants.



"All growers have to be licensed yearly," says farmer Mike Badcock whose family have been planting poppies for almost half a century.


"They have to have police checks on their characters, so if we have a drugs offence or anything else to our name, you will not get a licence to grow."

All fields have to be fenced, including a layer of barbed wire, and warning signs indicate that the crop is a little different from traditional fruit and vegetables.

A sign warns outsiders to keep away

But despite the precautions, security is not as comprehensive as you might expect, with the flowers almost within touching distance of the road.

It wouldn't take a determined thief to hop over the fence and grab a few capsules.

Steve Morris from GSK says security patrols are increased during harvest time, but the farming equivalent of Neighbourhood Watch also keeps the crop safe.


"Poppies have been part of the environment for over 40 years so people are used to it. Tasmania is a very rural environment."


"Everybody knows each other and there’s a sort of passive network of security that happens."

To obtain heroin, poppies have to be bled while still growing - by the time the crop is harvested the capsules have dried.

The GSK factory at Latrobe processes the poppy straw, obtaining morphine and codeine.

The seeds are then separated and cleaned, providing a useful by-product. Poppy seeds go to bakeries to be sprinkled on bread and bagels.



Poppies: Lucrative Crop For Aussie Farmers (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Australia-Poppy-Farmers-Harvesting-Crop-Grown-In-Tasmania/Article/201101215889392?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_A rticle_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15889392_Australia%3A_Poppy_Farmers_Ha rvesting_Crop_Grown_In_Tasmania)

[groo]

It's always puzzled me that Afghanistan doesn't have a legal opium trade as well. Lord knows they grow enough!

[Shadimar]

Pretty white and purple flowers, a shame they only last about a day :(

To obtain heroin, poppies have to be bled while still growingRx grade diamorphine (Heroin), is produced by acetylating morphine - solvent extracted from died poppies. The reporter seems to think poppies contain heroin :rolleyes:

It's always puzzled me that Afghanistan doesn't have a legal opium trade as well. Lord knows they grow enough!The US takes the lion's share of opiods, leaving much of the world to suffice on very little or none at all. Currently we have a global shortage declared by some, and disputed by others who say there is too much. If someone has to die in pain simply because they were born in the wrong country to get morphine, they I say there is indeed a shortage. Legal opium in Afghanistan could solve a number of problems.

[slicker]

Well it's all true what they say about the growing and security but what they don't say is the other aspects of security.

Hidden micro cameras, a specialist "Poppy Squad" in the state police force, etc. they don't telegraph all their shot and like all good security most of it is secret and not made public.

So don't waste your time and come here for a few free armfulls of poppies :p .
On the other hand if your a good gardener and know your plants have a look around older residential areas. I was in a garden the other day and there In front of me was a patch of, " guess what".

In Aussie poppies were a popular garden plant and there are still lots of old gardeners and gardens that have annual self seeding beds of these opium poppies left over from before prohibition. So start looking in your local area:)

And yes I live in Tasmania.