Australia is About to Grow Even More Opium Poppies

[straightrazor]

Tasmania currently grows about fifty percent of the world’s legal opium poppies. These produce the morphine for most modern analgesics, as well as thebaine for specialist drugs like buprenorphine and oxycodone. The UN regulates poppy agriculture to keep the plants out the black market, but also to ensure there are enough pain killers to meet world demand. The current problem is that need has recently surpassed production, yet Tasmania is just about at capacity. Getting more poppies grown is a bureaucratic and political nightmare but it looks like one state will take it on. Enter Victoria.

Victoria was already processing a lot of product from Tasmania, plus it has a similar climate, and their recently willing government has sealed the deal. The three companies that rule Tassie’s industry - GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson and Johnson and TPI Industries – are now pushing the final touches through state parliament and are hoping to get plants in the ground this winter. TPI Industries has even spent the past weeks holding information nights for Victorian farmers, and according to CEO Jarrod Ritchie, they’ve had enough interest to be planting between five hundred and one thousand hectares this year. “That is compared to around twenty-five thousand in Tasmania, but in my estimate, the industry will be growing ten percent more of what is already being grown in Tasmania.”

more @ http://www.vice.com/read/australia-is-about-to-grow-even-more-opium-poppies

 

[ro4eva]

Well what do ya know - it's GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson and Johnson and TPI Industries.

Today's pharmaceutical companies truly are legal drug dealers. And with the massive amount of money they make peddling their chemical cocktails, it's no wonder that the US government would rather fine them for any laws they may get caught breaking.

Even so, considering the debt they're in, and the amount of money they could be making by taxing a regulated, pure version of a popular street drug, such as MDMA or diacetylmorphine, I really do hope they wake the fuck up and smell the possibilities in terms of all that cheddar they could bring in.

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Makes so little sense to grow shit tons of drugs so far away then spend countless dollars shipping it all the way to the United States (where most of the legal (and illegal) drugs ends up).

 

[poledriver]

I wish they'd start doing something similar with cannabis, growing it on mass and selling it legally to Australians. More jobs, more tax, more relaxed stoned people.

 

[poledriver]

Makes so little sense to grow shit tons of drugs so far away then spend countless dollars shipping it all the way to the United States (where most of the legal (and illegal) drugs ends up).

Trade is going back and forth all the time with loads of stuff, all around the world. I can't see any problem with it. We have the space and the climate. Does the US also have the same suitable climate and space to do such a thing?

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

I would say so given how much weed is grown here.

 

[spacejunk]

The US isn't the centre of the universe; pharmaceutical opiates/opioids are prescribed and consumed across the globe.
The licenses pertaining to poppy farming are granted by the United Nations, and are generally dependant on a number of factors, such as the political stability of a region, the likelihood of theft and diversion of the crop into the black market as well as climate.
Different strains of poppies grow in most climatic regions.
And in terms of transport costs, allowing poppies to be grown in the Australian state of Victoria makes absolute sense, as it is my understanding most (if not all) of the processing is done there.
The nature of the industry means that a lot of the details are secretive, however.
Tasmania has had a pretty good security record since the industry started there in the 1970s. Its geographical isolation and physical separation from major smuggling/trafficking groups or regions is one of the major reasons it was selected as a poppy farming region.

 

[poledriver]

^ Yeah, I've often wondered how it has been possible there hasn't been criminal diversion and an Aussie based heroin production racket happening on any large scale. If it ever has happened on any scale, I've never read of it I dont think. The only thing I have heard is some people going into the fields and taking some poppies and OD'ing and some dying.

If it was in America I could see people robbing the places with guns and stealing shit left right and centre and major heroin production going on from it.

Is that far fetched?

Ho, i'm not sure that growing weed is the same as poppies, but I'm not really down on how it's all grown. I know in Aus, generally the more Northern areas which are warmer are probably easier to grow weed in as there is more warm sun for more of the yr, unless you grow hydro, then it doesn't matter where it is, as long as you have power and the equipment to do so. I think poppies must like the colder climates, as Tassie is pretty bloody cold as far as I know alot of the yr. (and lots of parts of Vic are very cold as well for a considerable amount of the yr, alot more so than the more northern east coast of Aus).

 

[spacejunk]

Both poppies and cannabis grow in a range of climates. Different strains grow in different places, from Tasmania to the Middle East, and south east Asia. Both are fairly hardy plants as far as I am aware.

There was a lot of poltical turmoil in the 60s and 70s in the States (from student rebellions to "watergate") and I believe Australia and Tasmania specifically were seen as relatively stable in global terms.
No drug cartels operate out of, or into Tasmania. Military coups and civil wars are unheard of in the region: thus politically stable.
"Political stability" is a relative thing, but I seem to recall reading that the crop losses from theft in the Tasmanian poppy industry are very low. I can try and dig up some statistics later if anyone is interested...

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

they're both desert plants

 

[LSDiesel]

Is there any opium poppies being grown in the US? legal or not

 

[ro4eva]

Is there any opium poppies being grown in the US? legal or not

Oh I'm betting they're being grown in scattered patches all over the US for various reasons - legal or not.

 

[poledriver]

they're both desert plants

There is no desert in tasmania tho :D

Or did you mean desert, as in after dinner?

 

[spacejunk]

^ that's dessert

Neither are desert plants; both are highly adaptable to environmental factors.
Nepal isn't desert. Neither is Thailand, Columbia or Humboldt County.

 

[poledriver]

Indeed it is, my bad.

 

[spacejunk]

Hehe.
Weed is also good dessert though; you raise a good point!

 

[poledriver]

OPIUM ISLAND: The Aussie drug industry you haven't heard of

A CORNER of our nation grows enough poppies to cover the MCG 15,000 times. The legal opium trade is blooming and the rest of the country wants in. But there's a dark side to this flower.

States want their cut of Australia’s growing opium poppy industry

THE world’s largest legal drug crop has been growing for years in Tasmania and has become so lucrative that other states are now looking to get in on the trade.
Opium poppies have been grown on Tasmanian farmland for 48 years and the tiny island can now claim the title of being the largest legal supplier of opiates in the world.
The state has quietly been fuelling the world’s growing appetite for painkillers and built up a global dominance worth about $290 million a year.
Although the returns are not quite worthy of a drug kingpin - representing eight per cent of the value of the state’s agricultural production - they are sizeable enough to be of note and will continue to grow.
Enter Victoria and Northern Territory, which are both looking to get a cut of the lucrative industry and to break Tasmania’s monopoly on the crop in Australia.
Australian suppliers are keen to keep up with future growth as use of painkillers becomes more widespread, with plans to expand operations to the mainland.
Growth has been fuelled by an ageing population and increasing use of drugs such as Nurofen Plus and Panadeine, which has seen demand for opioids more than triple in 20 years.
Tassie currently supplies almost half of the world’s demand for opium poppies, from which morphine and codeine can be extracted.
This is not to be confused with Afghanistan’s illegal poppy industry which produces drugs such as heroin.
The legal industry has become so lucrative for Tasmania that the crop now dwarfs its apple industry and covers an area the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground multiplied up to 15,000 times.

MAINLAND EXPANSION
Only three companies have a licence to cultivate opium poppies in Tasmania: GlaxoSmithKline, Tasmanian Alkaloids and TPI Enterprises Ltd.
All three companies are now looking to expand their operations to the mainland and have so far been welcomed by state governments.
Victoria passed legislation last month that would allow commercial cultivation of opium poppies on its land. Farmers will be able to get planting once regulations are finalised.
Last year the Victorian Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said the high value crop could create a $100 million industry for the state within a decade.
“The development of a poppy industry in Victoria will provide economic benefits to the state and help meet growing world demand for pain relieving medicines,” Mr Walsh said.
Legislation in the Northern Territory is also being drafted to allow commercial poppy cultivation. A spokesman for the NT Land Resource Management Minister said two large trials had been agreed to, and the parliament was expected to introduce legislation this year.

WARNING: DRUG USE CAN KILL
According to a report from the International Narcotics Control Board last year, it is expected that demand for opiates will increase in the future.
The growth is being driven by an ageing population and increasing use of painkillers, which has tripled over 20 years from 1993 to 2012.
Much of the growth is for poppies rich in thebaine, of which crops in Australia made up 80 per cent of global production.
But despite the financial benefits associated with the crop, there are risks. Earlier this year, a Danish tourist died after drinking tea made from poppies in Tasmania, the third poppy-related death in the past three years. Most of the poppies grown in Tasmania contain thebain, which can cause convulsions and death if consumed in large quantities.

NO LONGER THE ‘APPLE ISLE’
Unlike Afghanistan, the world’s larger grower of illicit opium poppies, Tasmania’s plants are not cultivated to produce opium for drugs such as heroin. They are instead used to produce poppy straw, from which alkaloids are extracted to make legal painkillers.
In order to deter misuse of the poppies, the state only allows three licenced companies to undertake commercial cultivation. More than 800 farmers grow poppies for the three companies on up to 30,000 hectares.
The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association estimated last year that crop was worth about $290 million to the state’s agricultural industry and made up about eight per cent of the value of overall production.
In the past five years alone, Tasmania has watched its production of opiates increase by 124 per cent, to 452 tonnes last year.
In comparison, Tasmania’s apple industry, which was once so dominant it earned the state the nickname the “Apple Isle”, covers about 7600 hectares and has been estimated to have a gross value of up to $50 million.

SPREADING THE RISK
TPI Enterprises Ltd chief executive officer Jarrod Ritchie said he hoped to expand his operations to both Victoria and Northern Territory this year, with planting expected to take place between June and August. Harvesting of the poppies could take place as early as October in the Northern Territory or about December in Victoria.
Mr Ritchie said he hoped to get the crop growing on up to 300 hectares, possibly south of Darwin, and across central or north west Victoria.
“The market is growing consistently ... but this is really about spreading the risk,” Mr Ritchie said.
He said that a storm in 2011 wiped out nearly 50 per cent of his crop just before harvest. Spreading the crop out across different areas will ensure a more consistent supply to customers.
Mr Ritchie said trials in the Northern Territory had already been very encouraging, with plants taking just half the time to grow.

Although demand for poppy straw will be impacted by the increasing popularity of synthetic opioids, it is still expected to increase. The market is concentrated mainly in the United States at the moment but is expected to rise because consumption is expected to spread to other countries.
“Fundamentally the situation is that 10 per cent of the global population has access to 90 per cent of the pain relief medication,” Mr Ritchie said.
“There is an enormous need in developing countries who don’t have access to pain relief, it’s a human right to have access to pain relief.”
Mr Ritchie’s competitors Tasmanian Alkaloids and global pharmaceutical and healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline, are also considering expansion into Victoria.
In December GSK Opiates Division General Manager Steve Morris said a trial of crops in Victoria were growing well.
“We don’t know the outcome of the trials as yet but we’re confident the results will be positive.”
A spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline told news.com.au this week that a decision would be likely be announced within a week.
A spokesperson for Tasmanian Alkaloids was unable to be contacted.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/busi...m-poppy-industry/story-fnda1bsz-1226880076728

 

[poledriver]

^ Sorry about the formatting, goto the url if you wont to read it easier.

 

[xtcgrrrl]

LSDiesel, your inbox is full! I tried to PM you twice and both times it said that you had to clear some space before I could PM you!