Tasmanian opium industry

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Tasmanian opium industry

The Tasmanian opium industry was established in Tasmania in 1966.[1][2] Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legal narcotic opium, producing more than 50% of the world's supply.[3][4] Opium produced in Tasmania generally gets produced into opiate medications such as morphine, codeine and oxycodone.[5]

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Opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) under cultivation in Tasmania

Extractas Bioscience (formerly known as Tasmanian Alkaloids) is Tasmania's largest corporate grower of opium poppies.[6] The father of Jeremy Rockliff, the current Premier of Tasmania worked for Extractas during his life as a poppy producer.[7]

A downy mildew outbreak in the 2014 poppy-growing season led to one Tasmanian company to look into growing poppies in the Northern Territory and Victoria of Australia.[4] Following the outbreak, the Northern Territory Government passed legislation allowing for the supervised production of opium plants for legal wholesale to produce narcotic medications.[3]

References

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