INDIA PRODUCES OPIUM-FREE POPPY

Indian scientists claim to have developed the world's first opium-free poppy.

The variety, known as "Sujata", is being hailed as a solution to the
subcontinent's growing problem of drug abuse. India is one of the largest
producers of poppies, which are often illegally harvested to produce opium
and heroin. The country has an estimated two million opium addicts.

Scientists at the Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in
Lucknow made their announcement in Current Science. After six years' work
they have grown a poppy with a deactivated opium gene. But the development
leaves a problem for India: how to get farmers to use the new variety.
Traditional poppy seeds cannot be banned, because India earns considerable
revenue from legal opium exports.