The Tasmanian opium industry was established in Tasmania in 1966. Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legal narcotic opium, producing more than 50% of the world's supply. Opium produced in Tasmania generally gets produced into opiate medications such as morphine, codeine and oxycodone.
Extractas Bioscience (formerly known as Tasmanian Alkaloids) is Tasmania's largest corporate grower of opium poppies. The father of Jeremy Rockliff, the current Premier of Tasmania worked for Extractas during his life as a poppy producer.
A downy mildew outbreak in the 2014 poppy-growing season led to one Tasmanian company to look into growing poppies in the Northern Territory and Victoria of Australia. Following the outbreak, the Northern Territory Government passed legislation allowing for the supervised production of opium plants for legal wholesale to produce narcotic medications.
References
- "Legislative Council Select Committee Inquiry: Tasmanian Poppy Industry" (PDF). Parliament of Tasmania. November 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- Chang, Charis (9 April 2014). "States want their cut of Australia's growing opium poppy industry". news.com.au. News Corp. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- ^ Government, Northern Territory (1 May 2020). "Poppy Regulation Act". daf.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- ^ Blucher, Alex (7 November 2014). "A systemic mildew that's causing entire paddock losses in poppy crops across Tasmania has sparked an industry-wide response". ABC Rural. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
- Gardner, Jessica (14 January 2014). "Opium poppy venture on a high". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- Ogilvie, Felicity (25 June 2009). "Happy hops damage poppy crops". ABC News (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- "Rick Rockliff, Tasmanian agricultural identity and father of Tasmanian premier, dies". ABC News. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2025.