Editing Opium (section)

=== Cultivation in the UK ===
In late 2006, the British government permitted the pharmaceutical company [[MacFarlan Smith]] (a [[Johnson Matthey]] company) to cultivate opium poppies in England for medicinal reasons, after Macfarlan Smith's primary source, India, decided to increase the price of export opium latex. This move is well received by British farmers, with a major opium poppy field located in [[Didcot]], England. The British government has contradicted the Home Office's suggestion that opium cultivation can be legalized in Afghanistan for exports to the United Kingdom, helping lower poverty and internal fighting while helping the [[National Health Service|NHS]] to meet the high demand for [[morphine]] and heroin. Opium poppy cultivation in the United Kingdom does not need a licence, but a licence is required for those wishing to extract opium for medicinal products.<ref>The painkilling fields: England's opium poppies that tackle the NHS morphine crisis, [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23404311-details/The%20painkilling%20fields:%20England's%20opium%20poppies%20that%20tackle%20the%20NHS%20morphine%20crisis/article.do Press release] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010224932/https://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23404311-details/The%20painkilling%20fields%3A%20England%27s%20opium%20poppies%20that%20tackle%20the%20NHS%20morphine%20crisis/article.do |date=October 10, 2008 }}, September 15, 2007.</ref>