I heard on the news today that there is a group of about twenty Alberta farmers and businessmen, lead by Glen Metzler, who are looking into the feasibility of growing poppies here in Canada. Apparently, the south-western prairies are an ideal climate for the plant. The government is observing Australia, where the poppy farmers are making up to seven times as much money as wheat farmers. The reason the poppies are so lucrative is because the opium derived from them is widely used in painkillers such as morphine. Each year Canada imports $100 million worth of refined painkillers from places like Australia and France. Metzler and his group feel this would be a huge opportunity for Canada. Naturally, the government is convinced that more poppies will only lead to more heroin and as a result will not grant any licenses to grow the flowers.
However there are a couple of things that no one seems to be taking into account. On the plus side, when November rolls around, maybe we could have fresh, real poppies to pin on our lapels instead of those cheap plastic ones. On the negative side though, if we have vast fields of poppies in the country they will have to be very carefully maintained. I read in some book (and I believe that it was "inspired by actual events") that if people breathe in poppy dust it will cause them to fall asleep. So how can you operate machinery or drive a vehicle when you’re on poppies.
To sum up how the government thinks: medicinal marijuana – good; medicinal opium – bad.
I know they grow in south central Sask., I’ve heard a story of an ancestor of mine who grew some from seeds from Europe, although they grew them for their pretty flowers and not the opium. I hope we get hemp growing on the prairies too. If it works well with ethanol production, I can see that as being a lever to convince the government to realize that hemp does not equal THC if it’s the right breed of plant.
If you think you can change the government’s “mind” about anything; you must be smoking hemp.