Should Saskatchewan grow poppies for painkillers?

Amanda Marcotte, CBC News 
   A research company in Lethbridge, Alta. says poppies could be a big crop in Saskatchewan and Alberta, if regulatory bodies would give it the go-ahead.
   API Labs Inc. wants approval to grow commercial quantities of poppies to produce opiate medications like codeine, morphine and oxycodone for the pharmaceutical industry.
   Glen Metzler, president and managing director of API Labs, says police and other regulatory bodies have some concerns about the product being diverted into the illegal drug trade.

   However, Metzler says several other countries, including Australia and France, grow poppies for legal painkillers. He says he sees risk but, by following regulations other countries have adopted, that risk can be mitigated.
   "If all these other countries in the world can address the risk why can't Canada?" Metzler told CBC Saskatchewan's Blue Sky.
   He says, at the farm gate, the poppy crop is worth $100 million in Australia. Currently in Canada, he says, we process painkillers but nobody in Canada is allowed to grow what are commonly known as opium poppies.
   "Why we won't let these industries establish in Canada is just beyond me."...Continue reading...