Editing Opium (section)

=== Legal production ===
{{Main|Opium licensing}}
Legal opium production is allowed under the [[United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs]] and other international drug treaties, subject to strict supervision by the [[law enforcement agency|law enforcement agencies]] of individual countries. The leading legal production method is the Robertson-[[Gregory process]], whereby the entire poppy, excluding roots and leaves, is mashed and stewed in dilute acid solutions. The [[alkaloids]] are then recovered via [[acid-base extraction]] and purified. The exact date of its discovery is unknown, but it was described by Wurtz in his ''Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée'' published in 1868.<ref>{{cite web|title=UNODC – Bulletin on Narcotics – 1950 Issue 3 – 003|url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1950-01-01_3_page004.html|access-date=2021-05-05|website=United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime|language=en}}</ref>

[[Legal opium production in India]] is much more traditional. As of 2008, opium was collected by farmers who were licensed to grow {{convert|0.1|ha|acre}} of opium poppies, who to maintain their licences needed to sell 56 kilograms of unadulterated raw opium paste. The price of opium paste is fixed by the government according to the quality and quantity tendered. The average is around 1500 rupees ({{US$|29}}) per kilogram.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbn.nic.in|title=CENTRAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS, INDIA|work=cbn.nic.in|access-date=April 4, 2016}}</ref> Some additional money is made by drying the poppy heads and collecting poppy seeds, and a small fraction of opium beyond the quota may be consumed locally or diverted to the black market. The opium paste is dried and processed into government opium and alkaloid factories before it is packed into cases of 60 kilograms for export. Purification of chemical constituents is done in India for domestic production, but typically done abroad by foreign importers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieo.org/opm_mass.html|title=Opium for the masses: photo essay on cultivation of opium in India|author=Pablo Bartholomew|author-link=Pablo Bartholomew|year=1996|access-date=June 15, 2007|archive-date=July 1, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701222546/http://www.ieo.org/opm_mass.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Legal opium importation from India and Turkey is conducted by [[Mallinckrodt]], [[Noramco]], [[Abbott Laboratories]], [[Purdue Pharma]], and [[Cody Laboratories Inc.]] in the United States, and legal opium production is conducted by [[GlaxoSmithKline]], [[Johnson & Johnson]], [[Johnson Matthey]], and [[Mayne Pharma|Mayne]] in [[Tasmania]], Australia; [[Sanofi Aventis]] in France; [[Shionogi]] Pharmaceutical in Japan; and [[MacFarlan Smith]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Senlis">{{cite web|url=http://www.senliscouncil.net/documents/feasibility_study_conclusions_and_recommendations |title=Feasibility Study on Opium Licensing in Afghanistan |author=Senlis Council |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928073417/http://www.senliscouncil.net/documents/feasibility_study_conclusions_and_recommendations |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> The UN treaty requires that every country submit annual reports to the [[International Narcotics Control Board]], stating that year's actual consumption of many classes of controlled drugs as well as opioids and projecting required quantities for the next year.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} This is to allow trends in consumption to be monitored and production quotas allotted.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

In 2005, the European [[Senlis Council]] began developing a programme which hopes to solve the problems caused by the large quantity of [[Opium production in Afghanistan|opium produced illegally in Afghanistan]], most of which is converted to heroin and smuggled for sale in Europe and the United States.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} This proposal is to [[opium licensing|license]] Afghan farmers to produce opium for the world pharmaceutical market, and thereby solve another problem, that of chronic underuse of potent analgesics where required within [[developing country|developing nations]]. Part of the proposal is to overcome the "80–20 rule" that requires the U.S. to purchase 80 percent of its legal opium from India and Turkey to include Afghanistan, by establishing a second-tier system of supply control that complements the current INCB regulated supply and demand system by providing poppy-based medicines to countries who cannot meet their demand under the current regulations. Senlis arranged a conference in Kabul that brought drug policy experts from around the world to meet with Afghan government officials to discuss internal security, corruption issues, and legal issues within Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/events/kabul|title=The Kabul International Symposium on Drug Policy|author=Senlis Council|date=September 26, 2005|access-date=May 4, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313235653/http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/events/kabul/|archive-date=March 13, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
In June 2007, the council launched a "Poppy for Medicines" project that provides a technical blueprint for the implementation of an integrated control system within Afghan village-based poppy for medicine projects: the idea promotes the economic diversification by redirecting proceeds from the legal cultivation of poppy and production of poppy-based medicines.<ref name="senliscouncil">[http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/documents/poppy_medicine_technical_dossier Poppy for Medicine: "Licensing poppy for the production of essential medicines: an integrated counter-narcotics, development, and counter-insurgency model for Afghanistan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928073343/http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/documents/poppy_medicine_technical_dossier |date=September 28, 2007 }}. ''[[Senlis Council]].'' June 2007. Retrieved on September 21, 2007.</ref> There has been criticism of the Senlis report findings by Macfarlan Smith, who argue that though they produce morphine in Europe, they were never asked to contribute to the report.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3036656/afg-CN-Macfarlanesmithreport |title=Letter from Macfarlan Smith |access-date=March 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322025248/http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3036656/afg-CN-Macfarlanesmithreport |archive-date=March 22, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>