# 1074
Admittedly a strange story, but one with a tenuous link to a pandemic: Britain is increasing their poppy production so they can have more morphine on hand for an emergency, such as a flu pandemic.
Morphine is one of those drugs that would be in high demand during a severe pandemic, particularly for its palliative effects on dyspnea. Low doses of Morphine can have a remarkable effect on patients who are short of breath and panicky.
At higher doses Morphine depresses a patients respiratory response, and could cause a patient to stop breathing, resulting in death. For a patient in extremis, for whom nothing can be done, it may be used to alleviate pain and suffering, even though it may hasten death.
A severe pandemic will quickly overwhelm medical facilities and exhaust supplies of curative medicines. Palliative care, for many, may be all that can be offered.
British farmers recruited to grow poppies
Robin Pagnamenta
A British company is recruiting farmers to cultivate opium to meet the growing demand for diamorphine in hospitals across the country.
The news comes as troops contine to struggle to contain the opium industry in Afghanistan. Figures due to be released by the United Nations next month are expected to show that the poppy crop has reached a record level. They are expected to show an increase in cultivated area to 166,000 hectares (410,000 acres).
Britain has spent £290 million on its counter-narcotics campaign in the country and is planning to spend an extra £22.5 million next year.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, conceded this month that opium production was rising but said that successes were being made in other aspects of Afghan life.
In Britain, 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of land has already been planted in the hope of making Britain self-sufficient in diamorphine and guaranteeing a supply should a flu pandemic put an impossible strain on drug manufacturers.
Diamorphine is commonly used to relieve the pain caused by heart attack, injury, surgery and cancers.
The poppies are being produced legally – at undisclosed locations on farms in central and northern England – for processing in Britain by Macfarlan Smith, the Edinburgh-based pharmaceutical division of Johnson Matthey, the FTSE 100 company.
Macfarlan Smith, which is the world’s largest legal manufacturer of the drug, has signed contracts with at least two British farms to ensure a regular supply.
The possibility of buying opium from Afghan farmers, who illegally grow poppies, to meet the demand for diamorphine has been raised in the past. However, with the illegal Afghan crop providing 90 per cent of the hero-in trade in Britain alone, the possibility of medical uses for it has never been viewed as practical or realistic.
There is already enough legal opium on the market to cater for medical requirements. Nevertheless, Macfarlan Smith says that it is still dedicated to expanding British poppy production. All crops have to be authorised by the Home Office.
