Afghanistan's opium production

@athousandyoung said
Wrong climate

Colorado has a similar climate to Afghanistan. Hot and dry. Good for high alkaloid opium. Opium poppies can be grown in all 50 states. It is cold and drought hardy. Hot and dry climates are good for high alkaloid opium though. That is why Afghanistan is so important for that.

Right climate.

@metal-brain said
Colorado has a similar climate to Afghanistan. Hot and dry. Good for high alkaloid opium. Opium poppies can be grown in all 50 states. It is cold and drought hardy. Hot and dry climates are good for high alkaloid opium though. That is why Afghanistan is so important for that.

Right climate.

Interesting. I did not know that.

It is not cold hardy however. Cold is very bad for opium poppy.

I read or heard somewhere that Great Britain required control of India to grow the opium that they sent to China and I thought it was because of climate but now I'm not sure.

@athousandyoung said
Interesting. I did not know that.

It is not cold hardy however. Cold is very bad for opium poppy.

I read or heard somewhere that Great Britain required control of India to grow the opium that they sent to China and I thought it was because of climate but now I'm not sure.

I have grown opium poppies in Michigan. They are cold hardy. I'm not saying that is good for high alkaloid content, but they can take a frost well. Whoever is giving you your info doesn't know what they are talking about.

"I read or heard somewhere that Great Britain required control of India to grow the opium that they sent to China and I thought it was because of climate but now I'm not sure."

Yes, opium poppies grow well in certain regions of India so they produced opium there to ship to China. Like cannabis, potency is dependent on how well they grow. Good opium cannot be produced anywhere opium poppies can grow. It must have the right climate. That is why the vast majority of opium is grown in Afghanistan.

Not all opium poppies strains are equal for high alkaloid content either. You must have the right strain like "Persian White" or another known for high alkaloid content. The poppies I grew are probably not suitable for opium. You cannot just buy any opium poppies from Thompson and Morgan seeds and expect to get high from it. In fact, they are probably low alkaloid and nearly worthless for that.

@athousandyoung said
Interesting. I did not know that.

It is not cold hardy however. Cold is very bad for opium poppy.

I read or heard somewhere that Great Britain required control of India to grow the opium that they sent to China and I thought it was because of climate but now I'm not sure.

Must have been a stoner comic
GB took over India because they wanted to exploit a monopoly of trading rights to:-
A: Sell British goods to India
B: Sell Indian goods to Europe and the rest of the world including the Americas
It was the British and Dutch East India companies that initially destroyed the political structure of India and took control. The British state took control when BEIC mismanagement resulted in various uprisings and discontent.
They did swamp China with opium in order to get control of the tea trade but that’s is definitely not why they took India.