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Uses - is it still used in the manufacture of codeine?

Unlikely in this country I'd have thought (both for the lack of sun and
any legal issues - I'd have thought that any legal, organised production
would have some sort of protection).

Maybe it is possible to extract the active ingredients by just
harvesting and processing - rather than slitting and bleeding sap?

Yes, the usual (legal) way is to harvest the seed-pods and extract the
juice - and no, I'm not extracting the juice...

That
said, the picture of worthy labourers going round slitting poppy heads
and collecting opium is rather attractive. I suspect that near
Stonehenge there might be a large itinerant labour force willing to
volunteer Possibly also open up a Pick Your Own Drugs operation.

The mind boogies.

And it makes me wonder. Are such things synthesised for use in legal
opiate drugs (eg., heroin, opium tinctures, morphine and codeine) -
apart from the obvious opiate like substitutes - or do companies buy the
raw ingredients from the Afghani poppy fields?

That I don't know. It will all be down to economics.

--
Rusty
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