POPPY FARMERS BRING IN MORPHINE HARVEST

Harvesting of the first opium poppy crop to be grown for morphine
production in Britain has begun.

Home Office approval was granted after three years of trials and the
flowers were planted five months ago at 20 undisclosed sites covering 1,000
acres in Wiltshire and Hampshire.

The harvest is to be sent to a licensed drug company so the morphine can be
extracted and used in painkillers to treat cancer and heart disease patients.

If successful, the scheme could help hard-pressed farmers. A spokesman for
the National Farmers' Union said: "The poppy could be an important cash
crop that could turn things around for some of the arable farmers on the
right sort of land."

United Oilseeds, a farmers' co-operative based in Devizes, Wiltshire, is
behind the project. John Manners, its spokesman, said the sites were not at
risk from heroin addicts as the poppies contained only a small amount of
morphine, which had to be extracted using a "specialised" method.

"Any addicts looking for a quick fix from a field of these poppies will be
disappointed," he said.