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When Peter Facchini joined the University of Calgary 12 years ago to research the opium poppy, colleagues asked why he didn’t study a plant more relevant to the Prairies, like canola. Facchini said he was simply pursuing his interests. Now, the opium poppy could prove quite useful for Canada. “It’s taken a dozen years, but there is a very strong understanding there’s real potential for the poppy,” he says.
Facchini is referring to a group of about 20 Alberta farmers and businessmen pushing for commercial opium poppy farming in Canada. Each year, Canada imports $100 million worth of refined codeine, morphine and oxycodone—derived from poppies and used in a variety of pharmaceuticals—from Australia and France. “We think farmers in Canada should be growing that crop, not farmers in France and Australia,” says Glen Metzler, a Lethbridge, Alta., businessman leading the effort.
The head of agriculture consultancy Metzler Trading Co. sees big potential. Poppies are an excellent cash crop for a struggling agricultural sector—farmers in Tasmania earn between $3,400 and $4,000 per hectare growing poppies for the lawful market, while wheat farming typically generates $800 per hectare.
But any attempt to grow the plant here requires a licence from Health Canada, since opium is a controlled substance. Metzler requested permission to grow commercially last April and was told by Health Canada it would not consider legal framework for commercial opium production at this time. Undeterred, he has started drumming up support in the province before trying again, and both Alberta’s premier and agriculture minister are interested in a meeting.
Concern over poppy farming has centred on the potential for the plant to be used for heroin. The illicit poppy market is about 10 times the size of the licit market, and Afghanistan accounts for 92% of the world’s total opium supply. The country produced 6,100 tons of it last year, all of which was used for heroin. The Senlis Council, a European think-tank, advocates redirecting Afghanistan’s supply to legal channels, a sentiment echoed by Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe last month when he suggested purchasing poppies directly from Afghanistan and processing them into pharmaceuticals in Canada.
Importing more poppies could derail any effort to grow them domestically, and Facchini argues the plan is misguided. “Does it seem sensible to put the production of something as important as these painkillers in the hands of a place as unstable as Afghanistan?” he asks.
Canada has the technology and security measures necessary to sustain its own poppy industry, he says, and his research can eliminate concerns about heroin. Part of Australia’s crop consists of a naturally mutated poppy containing no morphine. Instead, the plant produces a chemical called thebaine, which can easily be synthesized into codeine, but not as easily into heroin. “The conversion of morphine to heroin, anyone can do,” Facchini says. “But conversion of thebaine to heroin, you’d need a laboratory and a PhD in chemistry.” Facchini is trying to identify the gene responsible for the mutation, and once patented, the thebaine variety can be reproduced commercially. He signed a contract with Prairie Plant Systems, the Saskatoon-based firm that grows Canada’s medical marijuana, to work together on this research.
Metzler hopes this interest from the scientific community will help his plan get the go-ahead from Health Canada. “It’s a great opportunity for Canada,” he says. “It’s just a matter of providing the licence.”
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