ANOTHER warning about the misuse of poppies has been issued by Tasmanian growers, after the theft of 100 heads, or capsules, in the south of the state.
Poppy Growers Tasmania chief executive Keith Rice said there had been five deaths from the misuse of the poppy capsules, in the last 20 years.
The latest death is believed to have occurred earlier this year; the case is currently before the coroner.
“You’d be foolish not to be concerned about it, for no other reason people have died when using this crop in an illegal fashion,” Mr Rice said.
“There are all sorts of messages you can put around, that it’s illegal, you are trespassing – they are all important – but the key one is you are putting yourself at an enormous risk of an adverse reaction.”
Morphine is extracted from the poppy capsule, or head.
It is the world's major source of opiates and other alkaloids.
There have been two deaths in just over 12 months; a 17-year-old boy died in November last year from drinking tea. brewed from stolen poppy capsules while a Danish tourist was found dead in his campervan in Oatlands.
Tasmanian police are investigating the theft of the capsules, from a farm near New Norfolk.
Growers were concerned about the illegal use of poppies in tea, but Mr Rice said crop interference didn’t seem to be a big problem.
“But we can’t sit back and rest, we need to do everything in our power to get the message out there, to say this is not the type of substance you should be interfering with, to gain some sort of high.”
Apart from the warning signs, placed on fences where poppies were growing, there was informal surveillance of the crops, he said.
“I am very comfortable with the amount of surveillance out there,” Mr Rice said.
We have poppy inspectors, police, farmers themselves, the farming communities are very much aware of the dangers of the crop.
“We are doing all we possibly can to inform people of those dangers.”
