Phil Larkin abc.net.au
More Poppies

I reaped many unexpected rewards from hosting the Carnival and finding Rogue Pundit is certainly one of them. We're not quite eye to eye on politics but we're closer than most and his posts on drug issues are always really interesting. For those of my readers who skipped through the carnival post (and I know you did), I'm going to repost the link to this story on opium poppies that don't produce morphine. They do produce other compounds however that form the basis of the drugs thebaine and oripavine which are apparently non-addictive.

What this means in practical terms is that the pharma companies can extract these drugs without going through the extra step of processing the morphine first. Don't hold your breath waiting for Eli Lily to pass those savings to the consumer though.

The plants, that bleed red instead of white, naturally mutated at the legal farms in Tazmania and are now being cultivated for the potential creation of non-addictive pain killers. For the technical details on this and an excellent explanation on medical potential of the drugs for pain relief and addiction treatments, read Rogue Pundit's excellent post on the subject.