The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7205 p8
6 July 2002

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United Kingdom to grow its own opium

Sufficient opium poppies for the production of morphine and codeine for medicinal use in the United Kingdom are to be grown domestically. The Home Office said that following small-scale trials last year, 400 hectares (1.54 square miles) of opium poppies are now growing in the UK.

Historically, British opium supplies have been obtained overseas and processed by Macfarlan Smith, based in Edinburgh. Now, the domestically grown crop means that supplies will be less vulnerable to the seasonal and market fluctuations associated with imported supplies.

The locations at which the poppies are being grown are to be kept secret.