RECORD $15M OPIUM HAUL SEIZED AT BORDER

Calgary-based border agents have announced a huge opium poppy bust
with an estimated street value of almost $15 million -- and are
linking the poppies to an old drug gaining new popularity in Canada.

Canada Border Services Agency officials said Friday they have seized
more than 7,000 kilograms of opium poppy pods from two separate
transport trailers that crossed over from the United States last
month. Although officials say the two shipments are not related to one
another, they count the total haul as the agency's--and perhaps
Canada's --largest-ever such confiscation.

"This is a pretty significant seizure for us," said Candace Lyle,
chief of agency operations in Calgary.

"We believe it's the most significant seizure in Canada."

No charges were announced; the investigation continues.

Health Canada requires a permit for the possession, importing or
exporting of opium poppies. Officials said illegally imported poppy
pods are used to make doda--an opium powder used for hundreds of years
in Asia, and often consumed as a tea. Agency officials would not
divulge why they made the connection to the drug. "It's harmful and
it's illegal and it's dangerous and it's addictive," Lyle said.

Doda, sold at some South Asian meat and flower shops, has received
recent attention through a number of high-profile busts in Edmonton
and the Toronto area.

According to Health Canada, doda --or dode-- "is regulated as a
controlled substance in Canada, as are all substances containing opium
poppy, its preparations, derivatives, alkaloids and salts" under the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Several Calgary shops contacted by the Herald on Friday said they do
not sell doda, but noted that other firms do.

Balwinder Kahlon, who is the founder of a Calgary anti-drug
organization, said doda has been available in the city for the past
four or five years. He said it's often used by people who work long
hours.

"Lots of people are using it as a drug," he said.

"It keeps you awake," Kahlon said, and then "it becomes a
habit."

For the Canadian Border Services Agency, the first bust came in
Calgary more than two weeks ago, on Sept. 22. Agency officers were
inspecting a commercial container that travelled from Coutts and was
declared "dried grasses."

They discovered more than 2,700 kilograms of poppy pods. The agency
said the pods are worth an estimated $5.5 million.

That first bust was followed the next day by another suspicious
shipment in a "unrelated commercial container," according to
officials. This time, the declaration form described the contents as
dried flowers.

Upon closer inspection, agents found 4,500 kilos of dried poppy pods,
appraised at more than $9 million.

University of Calgary researcher Peter Facchini called the size of the
border agency seizure "remarkable."

"It seems to me that supply will follow demand," said Facchini, who
studies the pharmaceutical importance of opium poppies. "This
particular problem is now in Calgary."

Facchini, who often helps police identify poppies, said dry opium
poppy pods in that size of shipment would contain significant amounts
of morphine and codeine, and could be used for a variety of purposes.
Facchini added the poppies could have been grown almost anywhere.