Tasmanian opium industry

The Tasmanian opium industry was established in Tasmania in 1966.

[5] Extractas Bioscience (formerly known as Tasmanian Alkaloids) is Tasmania's largest corporate grower of opium poppies.

[6] The father of Jeremy Rockliff, the current Premier of Tasmania worked for Extractas during his life as a poppy producer.

[7] A downy mildew outbreak in the 2014 poppy-growing season led to one Tasmanian company to look into growing poppies in the Northern Territory and Victoria of Australia.

[4] Following the outbreak, the Northern Territory Government passed legislation allowing for the supervised production of opium plants for legal wholesale to produce narcotic medications.