This deserves to be in
THE REST OF THE WORLD and
NOT in the ASININE ZONE (but the Powers That Be will decide ...)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/we ... 5f151e789f

And O GOD HOW SAD -
the poppy thief who drank a tea brewed from stolen poppy heads and crossed the River Styx

the poppies grow wild all over tasmania having escaped the cultivated fields.
even in the council maintained gardens.

many gold and tin field areas in new south wales have poppies growing wild from the early days, chinese market gardeners cultivated them

FLB - But are youngies in Oz brewing up potentially lethal
opiated teas like the young Danes in the news report?

not to my knowledge

Tasmanian poppy farmers are at the centre of the US opioid crisis, but they say they're not to blame
By Jessica Hayes
13/10/19 Updated earlier today at 4:56am

Tasmania is more than 14,500 kilometres from Oklahoma, but Australia's island state has found itself caught in the crossfire of a devastating drug epidemic that has claimed more than 700,000 lives in the US.

Key points:

• Tasmania is home to a poppy-farming industry that supplies 50 per cent of the raw materials to make the world's opioid painkillers
  The state was specifically mentioned in a US court case in which a US pharmaceutical giant was found to have helped fuel Oklahoma's opioid crisis
  Poppy farmers say they comply with all international and US federal regulations and are not to blame

Widely known for its rich history and pristine national parks, Tasmania is also the world's largest producer of legal alkaloids — the raw materials from poppies that make powerful opioid painkillers.

In Bothwell, a small town nestled in the state's central highlands that boasts a population of about 400, farmer Tom Edgell says the state's poppy growers have been unfairly maligned.

"There's an implication that somehow we are responsible for the prescription drug overdoses, but I feel that's not accurate or fair," Mr Edgell said.

"I guess poppy growers bear the same amount of responsibility that a wheat grower might for the obesity epidemic."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-13/ ... s/11588766

Tassie poppies are not your average safe old ancient variety.
They are mostly now a new hybrid species developed to make Oxycontin
It still does not stop the desperados, nor the adventurers. An small number of deaths has resulted.

2017 - "Tasmania is a major producer of the world's legal opiates, and the industry claims some of the most stringent plantation security in the world.
But a 24-fold increase in the number of thefts has the industry and police worried.
In the 2015-16 financial year, 516 poppy heads were stolen – and last financial year, poppy thefts skyrocketed to 12,239."

"Tasmanian poppies are grown for pharmaceutical companies which use them to make painkillers.
Since 2000 a majority of the poppies grown in Tasmania have no longer contained the opiate morphine.
Instead they contain the highly toxic thebaine, a precursor to commercial painkillers but deadly when unprocessed.
Thebaine is a convulsant that delivers no ``high'' to the user but can trigger an incredibly painful death"

I had some Tassie soup decades ago. Made us puke, get real dopey and then soon go to sleep.
The bloke that jumped the fence would have had more fun..