Most flowers are harmless, right? Give or take a few tropical varieties, the vast majority of commercially harvested fields of plants are not going to pose any immediate threat to me or you.
But not these poppies. Wherever you go throughout northern Tasmania, you’re likely to see rolling hills of these beautiful flowers carefully fenced and brandishing big, bold warning signs of danger. Skull and cross-bones glare over the words “Death may result from inappropriate use”.
Confusion reigned as I tried to reconcile what constitutes “inappropriate use”. I know these open fields aren’t planted for opium production, so why do they need these signs? The answer came shortly before I left the Apple isle.
These are genetically modified poppies. They’ve been grown to reduce the number of refinements necessary to manufacture codeine. Pretty impressive. Still, I cannot help but giggle at the thought of poppy rustlers stealing into these rural properties late at night in order to pick flora for their own mad-scientist refinements.
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