Why can't we create via GM or otherwise a poppy version of potato blight or something similar that will wipe out the opium poppy?
There again there must be some Agent Orange lying about!
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Thought for the Day: Re: Afghan Opium Poppies....
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There are a great deal of essential legal drugs synthesized from the poppy. I don't think you would want to go without them after your next visit to the dentist.
So have legalised farms for opium poppies for medicinal purposes.
Now that's an idea.
They do Theo but if you engineer a blight you risk annihilating the whole species. Please don't. I read an article awhile back that suggest we buy Afghanistan's entire crop for legitimate use.
Sounds reasonable imho.
http://www.slate.com/id/2201622/
it's easy to genetically create something to target opium plants, but I suspect the 'green' crowd would have a fit at the loss of plant life :)
Make the American narcs stop buying the stuff. The loos of that market will drive most of the growers to soy beans.
ALL drugs were legal in ALL countries ALL down thru history until 1937 when Randolph Hearst decided to make more money.
How well is drug prohibition working??
Kinda hard to control Agent Orange (2,4D and 2,4,5T combo) so that it only kills the poppies. Unless you dab it on it has a nasty tendency to spread on the wind and knock the leave off everything it touches. Not good for food crops.
"The loos of that market will drive most of the growers to soy beans."
I have no idea what that might mean to a Brit.
"The loss of that market will drive most of the growers to soy beans." conveys what I meant.
Turns out that the opium poppy has a higher oil content than corn. Use it to make ethanol, drive up the price of poppies and drive down the price of corn.
I have this image of people going around sniffing buses rear ends.....
"Make the American narcs stop buying the stuff."
Well Larry unfortunately, Latin America supplies most of the Heroin in the USA. I'm afraid you can't pin EVERYTHING wrong in the world on us. Perhaps the EU and Asia could clean up their side of the street before complaining about the mess on ours.
And be accused of germ warfare or chemical warfare,no thanks.
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