India develops first opium-free poppy

The opium-less and alkaloid-free poppy, developed for the first time in the world, has heralded a new era of opium poppy cultivation which need not be licensed, J.R. Sharma and his colleagues from the CIMAP report in the journal, Current Science. It can be used as a food crop as it is rich in proteins and oil.

It was developed through a programme initiated by CIMAP in 1994, in which scientists systematically converted narcotic opium poppy into a non-narcotic crop by inactivating the opium gene through mutations.

The new variety does not contain opium in its latex, fruit or straw. But it can be used as a protein and oil-rich food crop with ahigh calorie value. Its seeds contain higher oil content with higher proportion of the beneficial unsaturated fatty acids than mustard or rapeseed.

The oil, which offers a good dietary control for coronary heart disease, serves as a healthy vegetable oil supplement for dietary control of coronary artery disease, the report says.

Poppy (papaver somniferum) is best known as the source of opium which contains three major alkaloids morphine, which is a potent painkiller, codeine, which is a respiratory depressant, and papaverene, which reduces spasms. Opium causes sedation and euphoria simultaneously, which leads to its misuse.