Opium grower, Guerrero state, Mexico, 2015. Dario Lopez-Mills/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The opium poppy flourishes all over the world, from the war-torn districts of Helmand to the sleepy fields of Hampshire. But these vastly different cultivation sites are linked to vastly different trades. In the UK, opium poppies are grown to produce vital pain-relieving drugs for the legal medical market, while in Afghanistan, the same plants are grown to produce heroin, a risky, illegal drug, the market for which enriches and empowers organised crime groups, enabling them to corrupt, kidnap and kill with impunity.
But is it possible to move from this scenario to one more resembling the first? That’s the question asked recently by the governor of the biggest opium-producing state in Mexico – a state which, unsurprisingly, also happens to be one of the most violent. The opium poppies grown in Guerrero state supply approximately half the heroin consumed in the United States. And given that the US is in the midst of an opioid epidemic that has led to more than 28,000 overdose deaths, there’s plenty of demand to ensure supply continues.
